Haqnawaz Shinwari
Peshawar
On June 25, at 10 o’clock in the night, police received information about a robbery committed by a motorcyclist dressed in black clothes. The incident also alerted the Ababeel Force of Banamani Police Station. The same day, an official of the law enforcement agency identified as Qamar Masih got injured in a firing attack by unknown assailants.
The attack on a law enforcement agency in the month of June left the police force astonished.
In the same period of time, attacks on Christian and Sikh communities were rampant.
After the target killing of three Sikhs, two Christians, four Islamic scholars and the wounding of three policemen in Peshawar in a short period of time, when the forensic test of a weapon was carried out it was found that the same weapon was used in all aforementioned incidents. The revelation surprised the police force, intelligence personnel and other investigation teams.
The forensic result suggested that there were common criminal elements behind the attacks on the members of minority communities and religious scholars in Peshawar.
As the incidents of attacks increased, the Additional IG Shaukat Abbas, head of Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) alerted the police force and increased the monitoring process and issued instructions to all quarters concerned to be vigilant.
In the same situation, when the call was made and the Ababil squad of Bhanamari police station blocked it, a motorcycle rider dressed in black clothes was in front of them for a short time. When the police tried to stop him, he fired at the police, injuring three policemen, while the motorcyclist was killed in retaliation. The firing made the police realize that this was not a regular robber.
In the same situation, when the call was made and the Ababil squad of Bhanamari police station blocked it, a motorcycle rider dressed in black clothes was in front of them for a short time. When the police tried to stop him, he fired at the police, injuring three policemen, while the motorcyclist was killed in retaliation. The firing of this motorcyclist from a moving motorcycle made the police realize that this was not an ordinary robber.
Police during the initial body search seized two mobile phones, a pistol, an Afghan citizen card and also a Zu BRT Card from his possession. The cards in the pocket revealed that he was a native of Afghanistan named Zafar, but who also used the name Khalid. Police did not find any SIM in the mobile recovered from the Zafar and reached the conclusion that the slain was not an ordinary thief or robber but a member of a banned outfit of militant group who used to the art of modern communication.
Additional IG CTD Shaukat Abbas, knowing the sensitivity of the whole matter, was personally monitoring the entire investigation process and he was determined to trace and arrest the network involved in the attacks on Sikh, Christian and Muslim scholars.
When police investigation came to know that the phone recovered from the pocket of deceased Zafar was only connected to free Wi-Fi at two places, one in the suburbs of Peshawar and the other in BRT, and whenever it was connected to the Internet, it used BRT’s network.
The man, who was so careful about the internet that he didn’t even have a mobile SIM, used a BRT Zu card for his criminal and terrorist activities in the provincial capital.
On the other hand, the forensic report of the pistol indicated that it was the same pistol with which all the killings including the minority community were carried out and the responsibility of which was claimed by the international militant organization Daesh.
A successful ISIS operative who was involved in several target killings and incidents was traced through the BRT card and helped to trace the profile of this global terrorist organization.
ISIS, which is the abbreviation of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and is a global terrorist organization, has now spread to dozens of other countries besides Syria and Iraq, and Pakistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Zu card owned by Zafar revealed everything about his movement. During the incident, the police called the eyewitnesses and showed them the videos of Zafar, and they confirmed that the same person had been seen in various incidents.
It is obvious that he was alone, but who were his companions? The answer to this question was like looking for a needle in the desert. The police once again started searching the mobile.
Investigators traced a number through the IMEI of the mobile phone, but when the number was checked, the number was blocked, but in the meantime, another SIM was traced to the phone in which the number was used. And the faces of the investigators lit up with joy.
When the action was taken, the mobile phone was being used by a young girl who was given the phone by a friend for communication. Teams were again formed and the friend was traced and when he was reached, he turned out to be a disabled person who was running a PCO shop. He told the police that he had sold the mobile to a person. Police again launched an investigation to reach the person.
But as mentioned, the cleverest criminal also leaves some traces and here also the criminal made a mistake that he had sold the mobile phone but at the same time bought another phone from the same shop. The process started which ended with the arrest of Aminullah, the head of this local chapter of Daesh.
The mobile phone was actually bought by a person named Aminullah from the PCO.
Thus, the link between Aminullah and Zafar was found. Aminullah proved to be such a key that made it possible to get answers to almost many questions.
Aminullah’s arrest was a major breakthrough. During this time all the reports and files of his contacts, his background, past arrests and transcripts and movements were searched.
However, after all kinds of efforts, the authorities were able to find out that the deceased was the son-in-law and nephew of the accused Zafar and Aminullah.
One of Aminullah’s sons was also killed in a drone attack in Afghanistan about ten years ago, and other members of the group were also killed in Kabul.
The CTD said the target killers used to receive money through the hundi/hawala channel and the last payment made to him was Rs 200,000. Authorities said they are also investigating other transactions and trying to find out some details about the money paid to the member of the banned outfit.
Who was sending this money? Apart from the arrest of other members of the group, who was sending the money? What channels were being used? Although these questions are still unanswered, it is a major achievement for the CTD to track down and crack a so-called successful cover of a secret terrorist organization.
Investigators believe that if the case is reviewed, the CTD has broken through the smoke and darkness surrounding the organization and it will help in understanding the nature of the organization.
Before this, there was a general impression that members of Daesh did not know each other’s appearance, name, location, and there was also the idea that they were not in touch with their family members, but with the arrest of Zafar and Aminullah all those speculations were wrong and baseless.
A few years ago, when an active ISIS network was tracked down by the police after an encounter, there was also evidence that unlike other militant organizations, other family members were more likely to be involved in ISIS operations. But the evidence was not strong enough to be believed.
However, Zafar and Aminullah arrested now proved that ISIS can actually turn the entire family into militancy.
Both Aminullah’s son and son-in-law were also killed while working for ISIS. It is also believed that he had relations with people from Nangarhar and Bajaur. In fact, Aminullah belongs to Chaparhar district of Nangarhar province of Afghanistan and the proposal to widen the scope of the investigation is under consideration.
The 64 GB data of the mobile phone recovered from the possession of Zafar will expose so many things to police and CTD officials. It will take time to reach the logical conclusion about the network presence in the region.
