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CNN Live At Daybreak

Interrogation of Saeed Yields Little in Pearl Case

Aired February 13, 2002 - 06:02   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: OK, let's talk about Daniel Pearl. Pakistani authorities are questioning the chief suspect in the Daniel Pearl kidnapping, but there are no imminent signs of the American reporter's release. CNN's Ben Wedeman has a live update now from Karachi. Ben, we had such high hopes yesterday that Daniel Pearl would be freed.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes certainly those hopes were high, today a little lower here. Now the Pakistani police, as you mentioned, are interrogating the man they have described as the ringleader, the mastermind behind the kidnapping of "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl.

Now this man, of course, is British born and educated. Ahmed Omar Sheikh Saeed, more commonly known as Sheikh Omar Saeed. He was arrested Tuesday in the northeastern Pakistani city of Lahore. According to police, he was found in a house with his wife and young child and surrendered to the authorities without a struggle. Later in the day he was transported from Lahore to Karachi.

Now the police are now back pedaling just a bit saying that Saeed after today's interrogations has yet to offer any concrete information that could lead to the release of Daniel Pearl. Now you may recall that shortly after his detention in Lahore after a preliminary interrogation, the police told us that Mr. Saeed had said that Mr. Pearl is in Karachi and he is still alive.

Now they seem to be toning down the optimism caused by those statements. During the night the police carried out a series of raids in and around Karachi, but those raids do not seem to have yielded any information that could lead so far to the release of Daniel Pearl -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We're not exactly back to square one, but we're close.

WEDEMAN: No, not back to square one. Certainly the police were encouraged by the fact that they could find this man, arrest this man, but the inspector general of the police here in Karachi has described him as a hard nut. This man is not a newcomer to the game of kidnapping. He spent five years in Indian jail. He's probably pretty hardened and therefore may be holding up under the fairly intense questioning by the Pakistani police -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Ben Wedeman reporting live for us from Karachi this morning. Thank you.

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