Pakistan police find Rs 25 lakh from rubble of deadly Swat Valley blast

Peshawar: Pakistan police found PKR 25 lakh from a packet buried under the rubble of the twin blasts which ripped through a counterterrorism facility in the country’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province last week, a media report said on Monday.

The blast occurred on April 24 at the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Kabal police station in Swat Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing at least 18 people and injuring 70 others.

According to Station House Officer CTD Police Station Kabal, Ikramullah, the packet filled with money was found when debris was cleared from the blast scene.

“When I picked it up, it had money in it. In 2022, there was money as evidence from a case, which was the property of the police department,” The Express Tribune newspaper quoted the SHO as saying.

Ikramullah handed over the money to the authorities and was lauded by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General Police (IGP) Akhtar Hayat Gandapur, who said that the SHO’s honesty made the province’s police proud and announced an award for him.

A report submitted by a two-member fact-finding committee found no evidence of terrorism and militancy in the blasts, the Dawn newspaper reported on Monday.

The twin blasts’ investigation was assigned to a committee comprising Secretary Interior Abid Majid and the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Special Branch, tasked with analysing the evidence collected from the incident site and presenting its report.

The committee was given clear directives to complete the investigation promptly and submit the report after analysing all the evidence.

Initial investigation by the police last week refuted the initial claims of a suicide attack in the twin blast and suggested that the primary reason behind the explosions was a short circuit in the ammunition depot.