Islamabad - Pakistani police launched a manhunt Sunday for
an escaped British terrorist suspect in an alleged plot to blow
up trans-Atlantic commercial jetliners, an official said.
Rashid Rauf, a British citizen of Pakistani origin, escaped from
police guards on Saturday afternoon after appearing before a judge in
Islamabad for an extradition request hearing relating to a separate
murder investigation in Britain.
'We have circulated his photograph to all law enforcement
agencies, we have blocked all escape routes,' said Haved Iqbal
Cheema, an Interior Ministry spokesman. 'We are making all efforts to
arrest him and should be able to nab him again.'
He said a committee had been formed to investigate how Rauf
managed to slip away from two police escorts at the Islamabad
District Court. Local television and newspaper reports said the
suspect slipped out of his handcuffs and overpowered the escorts, who
have been suspended and were under investigation.
'There's an investigation going on find out exactly what
happened,' Cheema said.
Rauf was originally arrested in Pakistan in August 2006 on a tip
from the British government, suspected in a plot to blow up jetliners
flying from Britain to the US, which prompted authorities to cancel
flights and issue security alerts.
Rauf was originally charged with possessing chemicals that could
be used to make explosives, but prosecutors later withdrew that case
and only held him for possessing bomb-making materials. His case is
still pending and he was to have remained in custody until January
19.
Separately, Rauf is fighting extradition to Britain in connection
with a murder there in 2002.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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