MANSEHRA: The alleged killer of Orangi pilot project`s director Naheed Perween Rehman was arrested here on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference at his office, Deputy Superintendent of Police Zulfiqar Khan Jadoon said the notorious target killer had been arrested in an operation carried out jointly by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh police and personnel of intelligence agencies.

Accompanied by Tariq Jadoon, inspector crime scene unit, Karachi, and inspector Fareeduddin, the station investigation officer, New Town, Karachi, Mr Jadoon said the action had been taken on information thatAhmad Ali alias Pappu Shah Kashmiri was present in a house at Kashmiri bazaar.

`It was a well-coordinated operation. The accused put up resistance, but the raiding party overpowered him,` he said.

The DSP said that the accused, wanted in many cases of target killing and extortion in Karachi, had been living in a rented house for a couple of years.

`We have also initiated legal formalities to take action against the owner of houses where target-killers had been hiding for a couple of years,` he said.

The accused was produced before the district and sessions judge who handed him over to police in transit custody for one day to shift him to Karachi.

Mr Jadoon said the legal formalities were being completed for shifting him to Karachi and the provincial home department had approved the move.

Police sources told Dawn that the alleged killer was an active commander of the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. He hailed from Kashmir and his family settled in Karachi. His father is a prayer leader in a mosque in Karachi.

He is wanted in several murder cases in different police stations in Karachi.

`We cannot reveal the preliminary investigation carried out by police, but one thing has been established that he had shifted here to avoid arrest during the ongoing operation in Karachi,` Mr Jadoon said.

The inspector crime scene unit, Karachi, Tariq Jadoon, told reporters that one of the accused in the case had been killed in a police encounter.

`We were after Pappu Shah and ultimately arrested him today. We are grateful to KP police and officials of spy agencies and police for making the arrest possible,` he said.