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Breaking News

Pakistan Police Have Arrested Lead Suspect in Daniel Pearl Kidnapping

Aired February 12, 2002 - 08:04   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to get to the latest on the terror threat in a moment. First, some breaking news out of Pakistan. There are some new details in the case of missing "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl.

Police in Pakistan have arrested the lead suspect in the kidnapping. They have been looking for the man, sometimes known as Sheikh Omar, since the beginning of the month.

Now, that they have got him, they have gotten some new information about the whereabouts of Daniel Pearl, and CNN's Ben Wedeman has the very latest for us from Karachi -- good morning, Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. That arrest was made this afternoon Karachi time in Lahore. That's a city in northeastern Pakistan.

Now, according to the Pakistani police, Sheikh Omar Saeed, who they were describing quite frequently as the ringleader of the kidnappers -- he is also known as Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh -- has already undergone interrogation. And he has told the police that Daniel Pearl is alive and in Karachi.

The police here say the next 12 hours will be crucial to this search for Daniel Pearl. They are not saying whether they actually know specifically where he is, but they say that now that Sheikh Omar Saeed is in their custody, they expect him to provide the critical information that could lead to the release of the American journalist.

Now, according to the police, the breakthrough came last night after a series of arrests here in Karachi, as well as in the capital, Islamabad. Those arrests provided the information that led them directly to Sheikh Omar Saeed.

Now, hopefully, as a result of this arrest, it's only a couple of hours, according to the police, according to one senior police officer, before Daniel Pearl will be freed. But we must say -- we must put a caution here that on previous occasions, the Pakistani police have made statements that did not always pan out.

So at this point, it's a wait-and-see game. Sheikh Omar apparently is going to be transported to Karachi from Lahore at some point either this evening or tomorrow morning. Once he gets here, that's probably the last lap in this saga -- Paula.

ZAHN: So, Ben, do investigators seem hopeful that he will eventually lead them to Daniel Pearl? I know you said he wouldn't tell them specifically where he is.

WEDEMAN: Yes, according to a senior police officer here in Karachi, they say that he knows -- that Sheikh Omar actually knows where Mr. Pearl is being held. Now, the technicalities of how they are going to actually win his release are hard to say.

Now, the hope is that the kidnappers will simply realize that the game is up, that there are no more places to hide, no more secrets. The police know their identity, their location. And they will simply give Mr. Pearl up, and that will be the end of that -- Paula.

ZAHN: Ben Wedeman -- thank you very much for that report this morning.

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