Pakistani police said that they were combing the eastern province of Punjab on Sunday for a man they suspect of playing a key role in the kidnapping of US reporter Daniel Pearl three weeks ago.
He was known to Pearl under the alias Imtiaz Siddiqui, although he is believed to have used a variety of other names including Amjad Hussain Farooqi, Haider Ali Farooqi and Mansoor Hussain.
Police suspect Siddiqui actually carried out the kidnapping of the reporter on January 23 in a plot masterminded by British-born Islamic militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who is now in police custody.
Before he disappeared, Pearl was working on a story about possible links between alleged shoe bomber Briton Richard Reid and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
The precise motive for his kidnapping remains unclear but it appears to have been a protest at the US war in Afghanistan and Pakistan's support for that effort.
Police say that they raided a house belonging to Siddiqui's family in the town of Toba Tek Singh in southern Punjab in the early hours of Saturday morning, but found it empty.
Earlier, police also detained two of his brothers for questioning as well as several other associates.
''Police raided Siddiqui's house in Punjab on Saturday, but the house was empty,'' one investigating officer said, ''Investigators were initially very hopeful that they would nab him. But now they have lost track of him.''
Nevertheless, police believe that they are hot on his heels, and are now trying to close down his escape routes.
''We have heightened vigilance at all entry and exit points of Punjab,'' an intelligence source said. ''Cars and vehicles are being thoroughly searched at these points.
''We are concentrating on southern Punjab because Amjad and his colleagues belong to this area,'' he said.
Bureau Report
