Police foils terror attack bid, capture five suspects

KARACHI: The law enforcement agencies foiled a terrorist bid on the eve of the New Year in Karachi, ARY News reported on Sunday.

Police in a late night raid in PIB Colony of the city captured an explosives laden motorcycle and two grenades, according to officials.

Five suspects were also detained along with the explosives, officials said.

The accused hurled hand grenade at the police party during the raid.

Around 10 kilograms of explosives were planted in the motorbike for attack, DIG police told the media.

The police got an intelligence tip off that a motorbike laden with explosives was prepared for terrorist attack, DIG East Amir Farooque said.

The police launched a search operation at Karnal Basti and exchanged fire with the accused. The motorbike recovered at Sukhia Ground in old Sabzi Mandi in PIB Colony, officials said.

The terrorists had prepared the motorbike for a terrorist attack on the New Year night, officials said.

Earlier in December two suspects affiliated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) South Africa network were arrested by the Rangers in a raid in North Karachi.

The paramilitary force also raided an empty house in Azizabad and seized a large cache of arms and ammunition.

The seized arms included 40 weapons, 17 kilogrammes of plastic explosives, 350 hand grenades, more than 100 rockets, Avan bombs and launchers and more than 42,000 bullets, the agency announced.

The Rangers spokesperson said the suspects were constantly in touch with the MQM South Africa network.

In the biggest ever capture of illegal weapons Police had recovered the biggest ever cache of firearms in the history of Karachi in October 2016. The arms were hidden in an abandoned house in the vicinity of Nine Zero. The firearms, seized from a house included anti-aircraft rocket-launchers and sub-machine guns.