Lahore bomb blast mastermind 'David' arrested from airport
Suspect hails from Karachi, came back from Dubai: Evidence of his link to foreign agency found
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The man who was arrested from Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore earlier on Thursday by the law-enforcement agencies (LEAs) turned out to be the mastermind of the provincial capital’s bomb blast that ripped through Johar Town locality on Wednesday, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Sources told 24News TV channel that the bomb blast mastermind who was identified as David belonged to Karachi. A while ago, David came back from Dubai and stayed in Gujranwala for some time. He was the one who packed the vehicle with explosives.
The sources informed that investigating agencies claimed to have found evidence proving his link to a foreign country’s organization.
David was about to board a flight for Karachi from Lahore Airport but the LAEs captured him from the airport and moved him to an unknown location for questioning.
Help from Islamabad
Earlier, the police located the suspicious car used in the Lahore blast. The car bore an Islamabad number plate LEB 9928. But no evidence was found that the suspicious car entered Islamabad. The IG police Islamabad informed Punjab IG police in this regard.
The federal police investigated the car’s movement in the federal capital at the request of the Punjab government and IG police Punjab. The IG police Punjab had given the task to Islamabad police to trace the car with the help of CCTV cameras installed in the federal capital.
Car owner arrested
Meanwhile, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) on Thursday formally launched an investigation into the blast after registration of a case while police, on the other hand, arrested the owner of the car used in the blast from Hafizabad late Wednesday night.
The site of the incident is still sealed as police have blocked all the roads leading to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPqsqUV-Ojk
A heavy contingent of the force is still present at the site not allowing any outsider to enter the area while the residents are being allowed in only after they are thoroughly frisked.
Search operation for the suspects continued in Johar Town throughout the Wednesday night while the process of collecting evidences continued on the second day of the blast (Thursday) as well.
Special vehicles of the CTD on Thursday remained busy collecting wreckage of the cars destroyed in the blast besides samples of explosive material used in the attack.
The sources told 24News TV channel that the law-enforcement agencies were now busy tracing the location of the man who had parked the car.
Three people, including a man and his son, were killed in the blast while 24 others, including a policeman, sustained injuries when a bomb blast rocked a number of houses in Johar Town.
The condition of three of the injured was stated to be critical.
A large number of policemen and Rescue 1122 teams rushed to the site in the Board of Revenue (BOR) Society in Johar Town.
The Punjab inspector-general of police said Counter-Terrorism Department personnel were investigating how much and what kind of explosive material was used in the bomb explosion.
Later, police sources divulged that 20 to 25 kg explosives were used in the blast.
Reporters Hassan Khalid, Irfan Malik and Usman Javed