An investigation team on Monday took the laptop of Dr Warren Weinstein, the US citizen who was kidnapped from his residence in Lahore last week, to extract e-mails for further investigation into the case.
Sources in Investigation Wing of the Lahore Police told Pakistan Today that the data extracted from Weinstein’s laptop could help them in knowing about the people he had connections with, especially those he corresponded with via e-mails just before being kidnapped. They said such contacts could help police trace the US citizen’s abductors.
A senior police officer privy to the investigations said they had started analysis of the contact numbers in Weinstein’s mobile phone, adding that that the cell phones of his security guards, which were taken away by the kidnappers, were also being monitored but no new SIM had been activated so far.
To another question, the police officer said the kidnappers had not contacted anybody for ransom so far.
Ruling out involvement of any secret agency in Weinstein’s abduction, the officer claimed that secret agencies were also probing the matter vigorously. “It was astonishing that the 60-year-old Dr Warren had spent six years in the locality without any problem and was abducted when he was about to leave for America after completing his contract,” an investigation officer said.
He also confirmed that CCTV cameras installed at the residence-cum-office were not functioning, adding that no major headway had been made in the case so far.
Meanwhile, a team of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also visited the crime scene at 49-J in Model Town and collected more evidence. The FBI team reconstructed the crime scene and discussed possibilities of internal security breach.
The FBI team later visited Model Town police station and received a copy of the FIR besides interrogating the arrested security guards.
Moreover, Capital City Police Officer Malik Ahmad Raza Tahir met Consul General of American Consulate Carmella Conroy at the American Consulate. During the meeting, the CCPO briefed her about the development in the case.
Officials of the American Consulate had also visited the CCPO Office on Monday and exchanged information in the case.’
Earlier, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Operations Ghulam Mahmood Dogar admitted that the police were still clueless about Weinstein’s kidnapping.
Addressing a press briefing, he said according to the set rules, foreigners, for their own security, were required to register their presence and engagements in the host country with the law enforcement agencies and relevant embassies but Weinstein never bothered to do that.
The American aid expert kidnapped at gunpoint in Lahore had not been threatened and was working legally in the country, a colleague told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“We are unclear why Weinstein was kidnapped. We don’t know what the motives are,” said a senior Pakistani employee at JE Austin Associates, the Virginia-based consultancy for which the American works.
“Weinstein never told us that he received any threats. Had he received any threats, I certainly would have known. He was the country head of our organisation and had been here for the last seven years,” said his colleague.