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CNN Saturday Morning News

Whereabouts of Daniel Pearl Remain a Mystery

Aired February 09, 2002 - 07:14   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It's been more than two weeks since "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped in Pakistan, and his whereabouts remain a mystery this morning.

CNN's Ben Wedeman joins us once again from Karachi, Pakistan, with the latest on the investigation.

Ben, much new to tell?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, just a little while ago we heard from the senior police officer official here in the Sindh Province. That is the province of Karachi. And he did throw a bit of cold water on the optimism that's been growing recently that Daniel Pearl would be released. He said as far as the release goes, it could take one day, it could take five days, it could seven days, it could take more.

Now, until today, until that statement, there was this optimism, based upon the fact that the Pakistani police have identified, pinpointed a man that they're calling the ringleader of the kidnappers. This is Sheikh Omar Saeed, a man with a long history of involvement in this sort of thing. He was held for five years in India for the kidnapping of British and American tourists. He has been linked very closely to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

Now, the Pakistani police have brought, into custody two of his relatives, apparently to act, so to speak, as human bargaining chips. Now, this head of the Sindh police -- rather, the inspector general for this province also said that Sheikh Omar Saeed's grandfather and cousin are, in his words, "cooperating with the investigation."

Now, it is hoped here that somehow all of this will lead to pressure mounting on the kidnappers to release Mr. Pearl, but at this point, there's no word, no indication when that could possibly happen.

And this is coming against a backdrop of incredible misinformation, confusion, and disinformation. Earlier this week, or rather before, there were the problems of the hoax e-mails. Now it seems that some of the Pakistani press have jumped on the bag -- bandwagon, so to speak, with rather outrageous claims of their own.

I'm going to share you this with you. This is the "Dawn" newspaper, a Karachi daily. Says here, "Pearl booked on Pakistani International Airlines flight for the U.K. today." Now, this claim is being called by "The Wall Street Journal" as "ludicrous and ridiculous." But this gives you an indication of the confusion that sometimes reigns in this story in which we're trying to keep everything clear -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Ben Wedeman, trying to sort through it all for us. We appreciate it, as always.

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