Islamabad - A British terrorist suspect in an alleged plot
to blow up trans-Atlantic commercial jetliners managed to escape from
a mosque when his police escorts allowed him to say prayers on their
way back to the prison, police investigators said Monday.
Rashid Rauf, a British citizen of Pakistani origin, escaped from
guards on Saturday afternoon after appearing before a district court
judge in Islamabad for an extradition hearing relating to a separate
murder investigation in Britain.
His two escorts were immediately detained and were being
investigated for possibly aiding the escape.
'The detained policemen told us that they were going back to the
jail with the suspect in a private cab, when Rauf requested them to
allow him to say noon prayers at a roadside mosque,' said Syed Kalim
Imam, the head of the investigation team and Senior Superintendent
Police, Islamabad.
He said Rauf entered the mosque with handcuffs on while the
policemen waited for him in the cab. Twenty minutes later they
discovered Rauf had slipped out a rear door while still wearing the
handcuffs.
Initial media reports suggested the suspect had slipped out of his
handcuffs and overpowered the escorts before escaping.
We have suspicions that the escape was the result of a police
conspiracy, starting with the fact that a private cab was used to
escort the accused instead of a police van, Imam said. The law
enforcement agencies were making every effort to 'recover Rauf.'
The police conducted several raids on the residences of Rauf's
relatives but without any success. His two uncles were detained, one
from Rawalpindi and other from Muzaffarabad, the main town in
Pakistani-administered Kashmir, for questioning.
Rauf was arrested in Pakistan in August 2006 on a tip from the
British government, which suspected he was part of a plot to blow up
several jetliners flying from Britain to the United States. The
alleged plot prompted authorities to cancel flights and issue
security alerts.
He was originally charged with possessing chemicals that could be
used to make explosives and carrying forged documents. The charges
were later withdrawn from a Pakistani court, which ordered his
release last month.
But the government issued fresh detention orders under a
Maintenance of Public Order law to keep holding him at Adiala Jail, a
high-security prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. He was to
have remained there until January while the court decided on his
extradition to Britain in connection with the murder of this uncle in
2002.
Authorities feared the terrorist suspect might have fled to
Pakistan's lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Police teams
have been dispatched to the region to conduct a manhunt.
Rauf's in-laws are believed to have strong connections with a
banned terrorist organization, Jaish-e-Mohammed (The Army of
Mohammed), which has close ties with al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.
However, Hashmad Habib, Rauf's defence attorney, said he did not
believe his client had escaped and feared for his safety.
'It's a case of a 'mysterious disappearance,'' he said. 'He did
not need to escape and I don't believe that he did.'
Habib also said Rauf was not involved in the British murder and
had wanted to return home to clear his name.
Meanwhile, the British High Commissioner Robert Brinkley contacted
Pakistan's Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz on Sunday and conveyed him
his government's concern over Rauf's escape.
The minister assured him that the suspect's capture is a
'priority,' the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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