Times of India : Pak extends Rashid Rauf's detention by 14 days

Pak extends Rashid Rauf's detention by 14 days

August 27, 2006

ISLAMABAD: The detention of Rashid Rauf, who authorities here say is a key figure in the London airliner bombing plot, has been extended for 14 days, a senior Pakistani government official said.

Rauf, who holds Pakistani and British citizenship, was arrested on August 9 in Bahawalpur, in southern Pakistan, and was moved soon after to Rawalpindi, just south of the capital, where the police, military and intelligence services have headquarters.

He is being held on charges of possession of forged documents and an additional charge but none relating to terrorism.

He was taken before a magistrate at the airport police station in Rawalpindi and ordered detained for two weeks, according to an intelligence official in Islamabad. That official said Rauf may also be charged with making threats over the telephone, or another offense not related to terrorism.

The senior government official, who spoke on condition that he not be identified, said that on Friday Rauf was ordered to be held for a second two-week period.

On Wednesday, the British authorities said they had not asked that Rauf be extradited, but on Saturday, the government official said that the request had been made, and that the process could take four to five weeks.

Pakistan's interior minister, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, said his agency had not received an extradition request from the country's foreign ministry. A spokeswoman for the foreign ministry said she was unaware of the request for extradition.

NYT news service