Pakistani police said today they believe the main kidnapping suspect in the case of missing US journalist Mr Daniel Pearl is hiding in the eastern city of Lahore.
Senior police sources revealed they had spoken with Mr Sheikh Omar, the British-born Islamic extremist accused of kidnapping Mr Pearl and threatening to kill him almost three weeks ago.
They said they had spoken with Mr Omar by phone on February 2nd and believed he was in Lahore at the time. But they were not sure if Mr Pearl was with him.
The sources also admitted they were "struggling" to find new leads on where Mr Omar is, despite another raid on a home last night in Rawalpindi, 260 kilometres north west of Lahore.
A relative of one of two men who owned a mobile phone recently used by Mr Omar was detained in the raid, police said.
Police have said they believe Wall Street Journalcorrespondent Mr Pearl (38) was being held in the southern city of Karachi, where he disappeared on January 23rd while researching a story on Islamic militancy in Pakistan.
Despite the arrests of some 17 people in relation to the investigation, and public appeals from Mr Pearl's employers and wife, there have been no contacts with the kidnappers for some two weeks.
AFP