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Policemen colluded in Rauf’s escape

ISLAMABAD: An official probe into the escape of a suspect in the 2006 plot to bomb transatlantic planes has concluded that the two policemen who were on duty to escort him back to Rawalpindi’s Adiala prison from a court appearance in the capital actively colluded in his getaway.

The report described the escape of Rashid Rauf as “not a case of negligence but a case of criminal collusion with the accused, and facilitating him to escape,” according to Dawn newspaper.

The probe also held the establishment of the Islamabad Capital Territory police responsible for not providing adequate escort cover to Rauf, a 26-year-old British national who was arrested in August 2006 in Pakistan.

Rauf escaped from police custody on December 15 after he was produced in the Islamabad district court.

Based on its own investigations, the official inquiry has concluded that Rauf escaped from the vicinity of the courts complex immediately after the hearing, and described as “concocted” a report that he escaped during the journey back to Adiala.

The inquiry report said the two policemen who were with him made three calls to each other from different locations at the time they claimed to have been guarding Rauf.

The probe also found out that the two policemen had escorted the suspect on three earlier occasions.

On two of those occasions, they had taken Rauf to his uncle’s home in violation of all rules.

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