Post offices, courier firms put on red alert after another judge receives ‘toxic’ letter

The authorities have put all the post offices and courier companies on “red alert” after another senior judge received a letter containing arsenic powder on Friday, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Showing seriousness about the threatening letters delivered to high-profile personalities including Supreme Court and High Court judges, and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, the agencies have directed the posts officers and courier services in the country to be vigilant and thoroughly check any letter sent to any high-profile personality.

Sources said that all the post offices and courier services were also directed not to open any 'suspicious' letter addressed to high-profile personalities will not be opened. First give the epistle a tight scrutiny and then let it be posted.

The TV channel reported that the decision was taken after arsenic powder and “threatening symbols” were found in the letters sent to Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Qazi Faez isa, several judges of the Supreme Court, Islamabad High Court, Lahore High Court and the Punjab Chief Minister.

In the latest development on Friday, Justice Baqar Ali Najafi of Lahore High Court (LHC) also received a suspicious letter which was received by his secretary.

The suspicious letter was handed over to the CTD officers for investigation.

The latest letter brings to six the number of epistles received by the LHC judges so far.

In the ongoing investigation by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), the close-circuit television (CCTV) cameras near the post office have been checked but still, no help could be found from the footage.
The sources also said that the work on the validity of the names and addresses of senders is being checked.
Preliminary investigation into the threatening letters received by the senior judges has revealed that they were sent from the same place.
The letters had been sent from the sub-divisional post office, Satellite Town, Rawalpindi as the same address was written on the stamps pasted on all these letters.

3 CTD teams to investigate letters

Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) has constituted three teams to probe the suspected letters. To be led by a DSP, one CTD team has been constituted from Lahore comprising 17 members while two CTD teams have been taken from Islamabad which included eight members each.

Moreover, one team of Islamabad CTD was investigating the people in the markets around the post office from where these letters were dispatched while second team of Islamabad CTD was working on CCTV footages related to Supreme Court and High Court in Islamabad.

Lahore CTD team was also working on CCTV footages of post offices of Rawalpindi and Sector I-10/2. All teams were updating apex court and high court registrars about update in the investigations about the letters.

However, sources said CTD teams were facing difficulties due to absence of CCTV cameras outside the post office in Rawalpindi. The CTD has also contacted NADRA to obtain the data once names or faces of the suspects are identified.

It is worth mentioning that on last Monday, April 1, just a day after the Supreme Court took suo motu notice of the letter written by six IHC judges in which they had alleged intervention in their work by the intelligence agencies, all eight judges of the high court, including the chief justice, received “suspected anthrax-laced letters”. And on Wednesday, same threatening letters were sent to the SC judges, including CJP Justice Qazi Faez Isa who had received this letter twice, making the case more mysterious.
On Thursday, four judges of the Lahore High Court and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz had also received the letters.
A first information report (FIR) was filed regarding the threatening letters. The FIR was lodged based on the complaint of IHC clerk Qadeer Ahmed at the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) police station in Islamabad on April 2 in which he stated that he had distributed at least eight letters addressed to IHC judges.
However, he received a warning from court employee Qamar Khursheed via telephone, advising him against opening the envelopes as they allegedly contained a chemical.
Following this warning, all readers at the court were instructed not to open the envelopes.
Upon opening four of the envelopes later, they discovered “white powder” inside. The contents of the envelopes criticized the justice system while referring to the “Tehreek-e-Namoos-e-Pakistan”.
The letters were authored by a woman named Resham, with no specific address provided.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced that thorough investigation will be conducted into the ‘toxic’ letters sent to the judges of Supreme Court and high courts.
Addressing the federal cabinet meeting in Islamabad yesterday, he said this matter will be taken up with a sense of responsibility, advising everyone not to “do politics” over the threatening letters sent to senior judges.

Reporters: Farzana Siddique and Malik Ashraf