Pak rejects claim about arrest of Abdul Rauf

Chilean police have arrested someone else because Mufti Abdul Rauf is present in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, `The News` daily quoted unnamed officials of Pak security agencies.

Islamabad: Pakistani authorities have refuted
Chilean police`s claim of having arrested the brother of JeM
chief Maulana Masood Azhar, accused of coordinating the 1999
hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane, saying they had nabbed
someone else, according to a media report.

The Chilean police have arrested someone else because
Mufti Abdul Rauf, the younger brother of Azhar, is present in
the garrison town of Rawalpindi, `The News` daily quoted
unnamed officials of Pakistani security agencies as saying.

Pakistani authorities told the daily that the name of the
man arrested in Chile last week is Mohammad Abdul Rauf, a
Pakistani who has been charged with possessing a fake visa.

They said the detained man has nothing to do with Jaish-e-
Mohammad (JeM) or any other Pakistani militant group and
India`s CBI would soon come to the "same conclusion".

Persons close to Abdul in Islamabad told the daily that
news of his arrest was "part of an ugly plot by Indian
agencies to malign him" because they had "failed" to produce
any evidence of his involvement in the hijacking over a decade
ago.

Chilean authorities had informed the CBI through Interpol
on April 11 that they had arrested a Pakistani national, Abdul
Rauf, who matched the description of the person charge-sheeted
by the CBI in the hijacking of flight IC-814.

The hijacking had compelled the then BJP-led government
in India to release Azhar along with Sheikh Ahmed Omar Saeed,
who has been sentenced to death for the murder of American
journalist Daniel Pearl, and another terrorist.

Indian authorities have dispatched a CBI team to Chile to
verify the identity of the detained man.

Interpol had issued a Red Corner Notice for JeM leader
Mufti Abdul Rauf in 2000 and a cash award of Rs 1 million was
announced for information leading to his arrest.

According to the Interpol notice, Rauf allegedly sent
Rs 78,000 twice to the hijackers of flight IC-814.

He rented a flat in Sabzi Mandi area of Dhaka for the
hijackers to stay and attended a few meetings to fine-tune the
operation.

During the hijacking, Rauf was constantly getting updates
from co-accused Abdul Latif, an Indian national who has been
arrested by the CBI.

Three other accomplices of Rauf who have been arrested
are Pakistani nationals Mohammad Rehan and Mohammed Iqbal and
Yusuf Nepali, a Nepalese national, and they are being tried in
India.

According to the Red Corner Notice issued by Interpol,
Rauf is a resident of 6-B-1260/l08, Kauser Colony, Model Town
in Bahawalpur district. Rauf has two other addresses in
Karachi.

PTI

Zee News App: Read latest news of India and world, bollywood news, business updates, cricket scores, etc. Download the Zee news app now to keep up with daily breaking news and live news event coverage.