Lahore Blast: Probe Initiated Into Involvement Of ‘External Elements’

Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) has expanded the scope of its probe into the Lahore Johar Town blast and issued a high alert to the provincial capital and Islamabad on suspicion of being an ‘outside hand’ behind the terrorist attack based on initial reports.

According to the details, the LEA raided the house of the arrested accused Peter Paul David and recovered important documents which showed that the incident was the handiwork of external elements, besides detaining two local facilitators from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Lahore.

An official of the investigation team said that Peter Paul David’s residence was located in Mahmoodabad, Karachi and the recovered Pakistani passport showed that he had made several trips to the UAE and had an Overseas Pakistani National Identity Card.

The official said the suspect also holds citizenship of another country and had visited an Arab country where he was said to have been assigned to carry out the bombing.

He added that the bombing was discussed at high-level meetings in the context of the political and security situation in Afghanistan and that more such bombings were feared.

He also revealed that local facilitators were running secret auto workshops in Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Peshawar where they had planted explosives in vehicles.

The LEA was monitoring Peter Paul David’s overseas tours to gain access to his ‘foreign handlers’.

He expressed suspicion that the handlers were receiving guidance from the neighbouring country and were also tracking the financing of Wednesday’s attack.

Earlier, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid, while issuing a statement on the blast in Johar Town area of ​​Lahore, had clarified that “Pakistan will never come under any pressure”.

The Federal Home Minister had claimed that we are very close to the culprits, the police will soon arrest them and bring good news to the nation.

Later in the day, law enforcement agencies arrested a suspect from Allama Iqbal International Airport in connection with the bombing.

According to the preliminary investigation, the car used in the blast was stolen from Gujranwala in 2010 after which it was stolen several times and Peter Paul David was its last owner.

Regarding the preliminary investigation, the official had said that the car had entered Lahore from Babu Sabo Interchange a few hours before the blast, where it was cleared by the police after checking.

He said there were conflicting reports as to whether the car contained explosives at the time, but there was a strong possibility that the explosives had been planted in Lahore and brought to Johar Town.