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In a breakthrough in the investigation into Wednesday’s Lahore bomb blast case, law enforcement agencies (LEAs) arrested a suspect said to be a foreign national from the Lahore airport.
Identified as Peter Paul David, the suspect was offloaded from a Karachi-bound flight and shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation. He is said to be the owner of the car used in the blast near the residence of Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed that killed three people and injured 24 others.
David runs a scrap and hotel business in Bahrain and moved his family from the Middle-Eastern country to Pakistan in 2010. He had arrived in the country a month-and-a-half ago, during which, he went to Lahore three times.
David’s travel history showed that he had been shuttling between Karachi, Lahore and Dubai frequently, while he couldn’t satisfy the investigators about the purpose of these visits and his activities.
During interrogation, David denied his involvement in the blast. He told the investigators that during his last visit to Dubai, a friend of his said someone he (the friend) knew in Gujranwala needed his David’s car for a couple of days. When he returned to Pakistan, he handed over the car to a masked man in Gujranwala, David said, adding that he thought the man was wearing the mask because of Covid-19.
According to the alleged identity card of the accused, the date of birth of Peter David Paul is 1964. The current identity card is valid till April 22, 2029. Sources claimed that temporary and permanent residence on Paul’s identity card is Mehmoodabad.
The alleged mastermind, Peter David Paul, had obtained a driver’s license from the Clifton branch in Karachi. Peter David Paul visited the Clifton Driving License Branch four times.
Lahore blast
A powerful blast near the residence of Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed on Wednesday killed three people and injured 24 others, including a police constable.
Six-year-old Abdul Haq, his father Abdul Malik, 50, and a young passerby died in the explosion that left a four-foot-deep and eight-foot-wide crater on the road and damaged several houses and shops nearby.3
Citing initial investigations, a senior police official said that about 15 kilograms of explosives had been planted in a car that was stolen from Gujranwala and parked near the residence of Hafiz Saeed in Board of Revenue Housing Society, Johar Town. His residence remained safe, but many other houses and shops falling in 100 square feet radius of the blast site were damaged.
Was Hafiz Saeed the target?
Though police high-ups did not expressly name Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed in their statements, they said the explosion occurred near the house of a ‘high-value target’.
Punjab inspector general of police (IGP) told media that the CTD is probing the incident and a detailed report will be shared about the nature of the blast and the material used.
In response to a question whether Hafiz Saeed was the target, Ghani said. “There is a police picket near the house of a high-value target, which is why the vehicle could not have gone near the house.”
