Times of India : UK seeks extradition of terror suspect from Pakistan

UK seeks extradition of terror suspect from Pakistan

October 13, 2007

ISLAMABAD: The UK has urged Pakistan to extradite a British national, who is suspected to be the mastermind behind last year's terror plot to blow up flights from Heathrow.

Rashid Rauf, a Briton, was detained in Pakistan in August last year after security agencies in the two countries zeroed in on him as the possible ringleader of the plot. Britain has been making efforts to extradite him since then.

The British High Commission here recently submitted a formal extradition request to Pakistan's Foreign Office, which forwarded it to "the Interior Ministry and concerned intelligence agencies for consideration," the Daily Times reported today quoting unnamed sources.

Rauf fled to Pakistan after he allegedly killed his uncle, Muhammad Saeed, on April 24, 2002 in Birmingham. Police in Karachi arrested him on August 10, 2006 in connection with the Heathrow airport bombing plot.

The sources said the Interior Ministry had informed the Foreign Office that as Pakistan and Britain have no extradition treaty, the government would have to invoke the Extradition Act of 1972 by publishing a notification in the official gazette for Rauf's extradition to Britain.

The report quoted the sources as saying that the withdrawal of terror cases against the suspected militant at the Airport police station in Rawalpindi was also necessary for Rauf's extradition.

Pakistan's Penal Code blocks the surrender of fugitive offenders if they are accused of serious offences in Pakistan, the report said.

The sources said Pakistan had allowed British police to interrogate Rauf on the Birmingham murder case and his alleged involvement in terrorism.