LAHORE: The investigation into the killing of PTI leader Abdullah Tahir has widened into a facilitation network, with police detaining the victim’s driver, the alleged spotter and the men who arranged the getaway vehicle.

Police detained the driver, Asghar, and seized his mobile phone. According to police sources, questioning produced the case’s central disclosure: Asghar had allegedly been supplying Abdullah Tahir’s location and movements to a female TikToker. The two were then interrogated face to face.

Sources said police have separately taken into custody the suspect accused of conducting reconnaissance at the scene before the attack, as well as the individuals who arranged the rental of the car used in the murder — a chain of small, deniable roles that investigators say is characteristic of contract killings.

Five suspects, including women, accused of facilitating the murder are currently in custody. The main shooter and his two accomplices remain at large.

Police have started a further round of questioning of the detained suspects, and operations to arrest the primary shooters are continuing.

For investigators, the phone seized from the driver is the most important piece of evidence in the case: it links the domestic staff of the victim to the surveillance that preceded the attack.