Islamabad: Pakistani security forces have arrested a most wanted terrorist leader as he was about to broad a flight to Dubai on Sunday from Peshawar’s Bacha Khan International Airport.
The immigration officials from Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) got hold of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Commander Molvi Bahadar Jan minutes before he was about to proceed for boarding a private airline flight from Peshawar to Dubai.
Officials confirmed that the wanted TTP leader was under detention pending an investigation by sensitive agencies. Molvi Bahadar Jan’s name was already on the Exit Control List (ECL) and was apprehended when he approached the Immigration counter at the airport.
Molvi Bahadar Jan is wanted in several terrorism related cases by intelligence agencies for several months. According to a security official, it will now be thoroughly investigated who facilitated him to get UAE visa.
Molvi Bahadar Jan, who hails from Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) by the interior ministry over the recommendation of Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD).
Shortly after the arrest, the TTP commander was handed over to CTD of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The arrest of Molvi Bahadar Jan came within days of reports that Afghanistan-based TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah had been killed in a US drone strike. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has also confirmed reports that TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah had been killed in a US drone strike on June 13, 2018.
Officials say that ever since TTP network had been broken in Pakistan and dozens of its activists were either killed or arrested while the remaining leaders are trying to flee the country.
On June 4, 2018, Pakistan’s Counter-Terrorism Department had arrested another self-styled commander of TTP from Buner district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The security personnel said the militant was involved in bomb attacks on police check posts and attack on Frontier Corps camp in Buner and was planning to shift to a neighbouring country.
Early last month (on May 5), Sindh Counter Terrorism Department officials had also arrested four terrorists from the city during raids. According to CTD official, those arrested from Karachi included Kamran aka Huzaifa, Abdul Rauf aka Abu Rizwan, Kaftan aka Kifayat, and Irshad aka Zakariya.
According to CTD official Chaudhry Safdar, all four terrorists were rounded up during raids conducted in SITE area and near University Road in Karachi.
