KARACHI: An antiterrorism court has issued orders against an investigating officer for not producing witnesses against six accused, including a juvenile, in an explosives case.

Police detained juvenile suspect Agha Jaan along with Syed Ziauddin and also booked their four absconding accomplices Saifullah, Mohammad Ashraf, Asmatullah and Waliullah for allegedly transporting suicide jackets meant for subversive acts in Karachi in May 2019.

The matter came up before the ATC-XI judge, who is conducting the trial in the judicial complex inside the cen-tral prison, for recording testimonies of prosecution witnesses against the accused persons.

But detained accused Agha Jaan and Syed Ziauddin were not produced from the prison due to spread of the coronavirus, while two co-accused appeared on bail.

However, the investigating officer failed to turn up and produce witnesses and case propertyin the present case.

Therefore, the judge ordered the IO to produce witnesses and case properties on the next date. The matter was fixed on June 3.

According to the prosecudon, the accused persons were involved in transporting two suicide bombing jackets from Quetta to Karachi in apublic bus.

Acting on a tip-off, the CTD of ficials claimed to have recovered the vests concealed in a refrigerator that the juvenile accused Agha Jaan was offloading from the vehicle at the Sohrab Goth bus terminal on May 20, 2019, it added.

It booked Agha Jaan, who travelled with the bus as `helper`.

Accused Agha Jaan claimed to be juvenile on the day of the alleged incident and had moved an application seeking his release from prison on bail.

However, the judge had rejected his bail plea on March 20.

A case was registered under Sections 4, 5 and 6 of the Explosive Substances Act at the CTD Malir police station on behalf of the state.