Belgian terror suspect held

Published March 4, 2006

LAHORE, March 3: Security personnel on Friday arrested a Belgian national suspected of involvement in some terrorist plots in Pakistan.

A senior intelligence official told Dawn that the foreigner was detained by FIA in a mosque in the premises of Lahore airport. He said arrest was made on leads given by an intelligence agency.

Holder of a Belgian passport, Michael Bellen was spotted when he was offering Friday prayer. FIA inspector Rao Ajmal Khan who arrested him had also gone there to offer prayer.

He immediately contacted his seniors, asking them to send him a sketch of the foreigner his department had received from an intelligence agency. Another FIA official brought the sketch and the two officials, after matching the sketch with the suspect, arrested him. Later he was handed over to intelligence agencies.

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