Minister confirms arrest of IT expert
ISLAMABAD, Aug 2: Minister for Information Sheikh Rashid Ahmad has confirmed that a computer expert linked to a terrorist network has been arrested.
APP quoted Sheikh Rashid as saying that terrorists were being arrested all over the country, adding that they were trying to carry out attacks at various places out of sheer frustration. They would not succeed in their nefarious designs, he added.
AFP ADDS: Sheikh Rashid said: "We've arrested a computer mastermind. He is linked to Al Qaeda. We got information from computer and email." He was ambiguous about the place where the man was arrested and said he was captured either in Lahore or Gujrat and declined to reveal his nationality.
The capture of the computer engineer was around the same time as the arrest of Tanzanian-born Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, Sheikh Rashid said, but would not specify the date. Ghailani's arrest also yielded valuable information, the minister said.
"After Ghailani, this is the second important arrest in Pakistan," Mr Rashid later told state television. "We have got valuable information from him," he said.
"We have arrested some more people in addition to these two," he said. Sheikh Rashid said that security agencies hoped to penetrate the terrorist network using the information gleaned from the latest detainees.