Briton escapes Pakistan police
Sunday, 16 Dec 2007 20:54
Rashid Rauf – formerly linked to transatlantic terror plot – escapes police custody in Pakistan
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A British man once suspected of involvement in a plot to blow up transatlantic flights has escaped custody in
Pakistan.
Rashid Rauf is understood to have slipped away from his two police guards as they escorted him back to jail following a court appearance in Islamabad.
The two police officers are now being questioned on suspicion of negligence.
Mr Rauf, who has dual British and Pakistani nationality, is wanted in the UK in connection with the murder of his uncle Mohammed Saeed in Birmingham in 2002.
It is thought that his court appearance at Zafar Awan in the Pakistani capital was related to his extradition to Britain.
According to local reports he escaped custody after managing to break out of his handcuffs.
Mr Rauf was among the first people arrested over last year's alleged plot to blow up flights between the UK and the US.
Prosecutors in Pakistan said he was the ringleader of the al-Qaida-linked conspiracy, which led to weeks of disruption at British airports and a new raft of security restrictions.
All charges against him were eventually dropped, however.