ISLAMABAD: Two persons have been arrested from Kohat by investigators in the murder case of a German national in the capital. Senior police officers told Dawn that a joint team of the capital and Kohat police raided a house and arrested the suspects on Wednesday.

“The suspects have been sent to jail in Kohat and investigators will approach the court to seek their transit remand and bring them to Islamabad for an interrogation,” they added.

Noel Mathias Do Rego was shot dead near his residence at G-10/4 on Tuesday when he was returning from a bank at F-10 after withdrawing Rs3 million, said the police.

A car intercepted him and two persons disembarked from it and shot him dead and escaped. The amount was found in the victim’s vehicle intact.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (Operations) Waqaruddin Syed took notice of the incident and tasked the homicide unit of the Saddar circle police under supervision of Subdivisional Police Officer (SDPO) Shalimar DSP Zulfiqar Ahmed to trace the suspects.

During the examination of CCTV footage of Safe City Project and other cameras installed at different buildings by the police team under the supervision of DSP Ahmed, a Mehran car with the registration number of Lahore was seen chasing the vehicle of the German national from the bank. The car was also spotted near the residence of the German at the time of the attack and then speeding off from the scene.

It transpired that the owner of the car had a permanent address of Kohat and temporary address of Farash Town, Islamabad.

The investigators obtained further details about the owner which showed that he was currently in Kohat.

It was also revealed that he had made over 40 calls on a number registered in the name of a woman shortly before the incident.

After tracing the location of the suspect, the investigating team reached Kohat and along with the local police raided the house of the suspect which led to his arrest along with his accomplice.

The raiding team also recovered the car and the weapon used in the murder of the German national, said the police officers.

During preliminarily investigations, the suspects confessed to killing the man during what they claimed an attempted robbery.

About the mobile number, the main suspect told investigators that his sister owned the number. But an investigation over the mobile number is underway to get the details and confirm the suspect’s statement.

The officers said circumstantial evidence did not support the claim by the suspects that they had killed the man during an attempted robbery. The suspects had enough time to take away the cash lying in the car but they escaped after shooting the man.

The police officers also said the main suspect had a criminal record and was allegedly involved in a number of robbery and murder cases in Punjab and Islamabad.

Mr Rego, an IT expert, was a Portuguese by birth and had migrated to Germany and become its citizen. About12 years ago, he married a Pakistani woman in Germany and moved to Pakistan.

Initially, the couple settled in Johar Town, Karachi, and later shifted to Islamabad.

The German had a Pakistan Origin Card issued in Germany in 2019. The couple was residing at a house in G-10/4 owned by Mr Rego’s sister-in-law, who worked in a hospital. He was planning to move back to Germany.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2021