Investigators have decided to conduct polygraph tests of the security guards and driver of American national Dr Warren Weinstein, who was abducted from his residence-cum-office in Model Town last week.
The decision was made at a high-level meeting in order to verify and judge the statements of Weinstein’s employees, who are in police custody. Sources said the move was planned as the investigators were confused about their statements and wanted to find out the truth by using the polygraph test. Police have not been able to draw any conclusion about their involvement in the kidnapping as of yet.
Police sources revealed that another former security guard of Weinstein named Talib had also been arrested and shifted to Chuhang Police Training School for interrogation. Meanwhile, police issued the sketch of one of the abductors. Sources said the sketch had been prepared in the light of interrogation of the four security guards and the driver. Police said the bearded kidnapper was around 23 to 25 years old.
Reportedly, a joint team of the investigators is grilling more than 13 suspects but, according to police sources, they have failed to get any solid leads to the whereabouts of the US national. Police sources say the investigators have obtained the records of the cellular phones of the arrested suspects and are examining them thoroughly.
Police have sealed the residence (49-J, Model Town) of the victim after a team of officers from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation visited the crime scene and examined the entire house. However, Investigations Senior Superintendent of Police Abdul Razzaq Cheema told Pakistan Today he had no details of the progress made in investigation as he could provide details only in office hours after consulting his subordinates.
The American lived in Model Town, an upmarket Lahore neighbourhood once home to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, for five or six years, using the ground floor as an office and the first floor as a residence.
Weinstein had been due to return to the United States on Monday after concluding his contract on private-sector development and economic growth in Pakistan, a frontline state in the war on terror where anti-US feeling is rife.
