The prime suspect in the kidnapping US reporter Mr Daniel Pearl has told Pakistani police that he is still alive, it has been reported.
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A photo of Mr Daniel Pearl released by his captors in January Photo: Reuters
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Pakistani news agency
APP
earlier quoted Insp Gen of Police in the province of Punjab Mr Malik Asif Hayat as saying British-born Islamic militant Mr Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was picked up in the city of Lahore this morning.
Wall Street Journalreporter Mr Pearl (38) vanished in Karachi on January 23rd as he tried to make contact with Islamic radical groups and investigate possible links between alleged shoe bomber Mr Richard Reid and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
Police said they had detained two other suspects in the southern city of Karachi overnight.
Earlier today, three suspects accused of involvement in the kidnapping arrived in court in Karachi in a police armoured personnel carrier, handcuffed and chained together, with their faces covered by blankets and towels.
The three men, named as Mr Fahad Naseem, Mr Sheikh Adil and Mr Salman Saquib, were surrounded by over a dozen armed police as they shuffled up to the courtroom on the first floor of the provincial High Court building.
They were accused of sending two e-mails in the week after Mr Pearl's disappearance that contained photographs of the reporter with a gun to his head and that threatened to kill him if the United States did not release its prisoners from the Afghan war.