KARACHI: An antiterrorism court remanded on Wednesday three suspects in police custody in the Karachi airport attack case.

The crime investigation department of police claimed to have arrested four suspects belonging to Al Qaeda and the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan on Tuesday for allegedly providing logistical support, funds and weapons to around 10 attackers, who stormed Karachi airport in June. They were killed in a swift operation by law-enforcement agencies.

However, three of them — Sarmad Siddiqui, Asif Zaheer and Nadeem, alias Burger, alias Mullah — were produced in court amid tight security.

The investigating officer submitted that the suspects were arrested on Oct 28 and two of them were found carrying unlicensed weapons.

He contended that during initial interrogation the suspects disclosed that they purchased 9mm and CF 98 pistols by using the licence of arms dealer Hameed-ur-Rehman and handed over the weapons to Malik Mumtaz Awan and others.

The IO sought custody of the suspects for further questioning and arrest of their accomplices.

Judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso of the ATC-I handed over the suspects to the police on physical remand till Nov 10 and asked the IO to produce them with a progress report on next hearing.

The same court had quashed last month 19 cases pertaining to possession of explosive substances and illicit weapons against the 10 slain attackers.

The airport police booked the 10 unidentified militants in 19 cases under the Explosive Substance Act and the Sindh Arms Act, 2013.

The police submitted reports against the unidentified attackers about the recovery for Kalashnikovs, suicide jackets, automatic rifles, rocket launchers, hand grenades and other explosives and weapons from their possession.

The investigation reports were filed in 10 explosive substances and nine illicit weapons cases and the police asked the court to cancel the cases since all the suspects had been killed. The identity of the slain attackers could not be ascertained, it added.

The main case (87/14) was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempted murder), 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 427 (mischief casing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage, etc), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house, etc), 109 (abetment) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code and 4/5 of the Explosive Substances Act read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

Nadeem and Asif were also booked under Section 23(1) (a) of the Sindh Arms Act, 2013.

The head of the outlawed TTP, Fazlullah, and the then spokesman Shahidullah Shahid were also named in the main case.

It may be recalled that the arrest of some suspects was reported by a section of the media on Sept 10 in Nawabshah, where the attackers had reportedly purchased and activated their subscriber’s identification modules (SIMs).

However, they were not brought to the courts.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2014