Sultan Park Suspects On Run In Pakistan

By Ajay Makan
November 7, 2007

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The police say ten men linked to the September 29 Malé bomb blast are on the run in Pakistan, where several learnt bomb making techniques in militant madrassas.

The men are the “masterminds” behind the explosion, which injured twelve tourists, police spokesman Shiyam told Minivan News. All ten fled to Pakistan in the weeks preceding the attack.

Three other men in custody have told police they planted the device to, “target, attack and injure non-Muslims, to fulfill jihad.”

The ten men entered Pakistan via flights to Karachi in September, police say.

Several of the fugitives, as well as some of the suspects in custody, received training in bomb making in Pakistani madrassas, the police say. And the fugitives are now receiving support from, “associates in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.”

Extradition orders have been prepared and Pakistani police have been alerted through Interpol, although police said the problems faced by Pakistan, currently under emergency ruled and plagued by suicide bombers, will be “obstacles,” to apprehending the suspects.

Two of the suspects, Ali Shameem and Abdul Latheef Ibrahim, were on a travel blacklist of seven men thought to be planning to travel to Pakistan as jihadis.

CCTV footage showed the two men slipped out of the country on September 17 and 22, with the assistance of an immigration officer who has since been arrested.

The seven man list of potential jihadis was drawn up by the police in August, following, “tip offs,” from family members assistant police commission Abdullah Riyaz told Minivan News

Three other men on the list were detained in August, but released after judges ruled there was insufficient evidence to prolong detention.

The men are understood to remain at large, but Riyaz said, "they have not been suspected of anything in the Maldives."

He also defended a huge operation to find Shameem and Ibrahim in Laamu atoll Kalaidhoo, which took place before police realised the two men had skipped the country.

Police have asked the Attorney General’s Office to charge six men currently in detention, including one minor. The police say four of the men were directly involved in the attack, while two are associates.

The files of the ten fugitives will also be forwarded to the Attorney General’s office, and they may face trial in absentia.

None of the men so far named are from Himandhoo, the island where police arrested more than sixty men after an operation to detain suspects linked to the explosion.

But Riyaz told journalists, all those arrested, “are associated with Himandhoo.” The wife of one of the prime suspects has been traced to Himandhoo, while the police commissioner said all those in custody were known to worshippers at the island’s breakaway Dhar-al-khuir mosque, which police forcefully closed last month.

The confessions from three of the suspects provide final confirmation of an Islamic extremist motive behind the attack. President Gayoom had previously blamed opposition elements and even a British human rights campaign group.