NOWSHERA, Jan 18: An alleged drug smuggler from Rawalpindi on Wednesday confessed to local police that he had killed a federal secretary’s mother and sister at Islamabad’s Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) last Saturday.

He, however, claimed that he had mistaken the two for his target.

Superintendent of police (investigation) Israr Bacha told a news conference here that Mohammad Asif was arrested on Tuesday by police at Rashakai motorway interchange near Mardan and that 12kg heroin he wanted to smuggle to Islamabad was also seized.

He said police also held around 30kg heroin from a Peshawar house on the drug pusher’s information.

The SP said Asif confessed to gunning down the federal joint secretary’s mother and sister at Pims on January 14 but claimed that he mistakenly killed the two as his target was admitted to another room of the hospital.

According to him, the alleged killer told interrogators that he was hired by a Karachi businessman, Seth Mansoor, for killinghis brother’s kidnappers-cum-killers led by Saholat Khan.

“Saholat Khan kidnapped brother of Seth Mansoor a few years ago before demanding a ransom of Rs100 million. After the sought-after ransom wasn’t paid, the kidnappers killed Seth Mansoor’s brother. To avenge the killing, Seth Mansoor engaged me, Faisal, Shakir and Amin to eliminate Saholat Khan undergoing treatment at Pims in police custody. We mistakenly entered the room next to Saholat Khan’s and killed the two women,” the SP quoted Asif as saying.

He said Islamabad police had seized a Kalashnikov, a repeater gun and two pistols near Pims on the drug trafficker’s information.

A reporter from Islamabad adds: Local police have sent its officer investigating the two killings to Nowshera to quiz Asif, SP Saddar Sajid Kayani told Dawn.

If the accused repeated his confession, he would be shifted to the federal capital for interrogation, he added.