Dawn : Rashid Rauf escapes from custody

Rashid Rauf escapes from custody

By Mohammed Asghar | December 15, 2007

ISLAMABAD, Dec 15: A suspected militant, who at one point was blamed by the Pakistani and British authorities of having links to a London-based group that was allegedly planning to blow up some transatlantic flights, disappeared from outside a local court, where he was brought from the Adiala Jail for a hearing.

Rashid Rauf had remained in detention under MPO 3 even after all charges against him had been dropped amidst strong suggestions that Islamabad was seriously considering a request from London to extradite him to the UK.

Official sources confirmed he was brought to the court of Zafar Awan in Islamabad for hearing of a case. But these officials claimed that when he was being guarded by two policemen, he somehow managed to escape.