Police say mother ‘orchestrated’ poisoning of three children in Lahore; two more suspects arrested

LAHORE: Lahore Police on Friday claimed to have solved the case involving the deaths of an American national woman and her three children, alleging that the deceased mother orchestrated the poisoning before taking her own life.

Addressing a press conference, DIG Investigation Zeeshan Raza said the investigation had identified the mother, as the prime suspect. “The deceased mother of the children herself turned out to be the main accused,” he said, adding that two more suspects had been arrested in connection with the case.

The newly arrested suspects include the owner of an online chemical store and a delivery rider. According to Raza, the shop owner allegedly sold chemicals online and received Rs138,000 through MoneyGram in exchange for supplying potassium cyanide.

Police said the mother had been suffering from depression and had been searching online for methods of suicide since November. Raza told reporters that investigators also recovered suicide-related articles from her mobile phone and found that she had contacted the chemical supplier through Facebook.

According to the DIG, Aleena travelled from the United States to Lahore with her husband and three children and was living in a rented house. She allegedly arranged for the parcel containing the chemical to be delivered to a friend’s house, who was unaware of its contents.

Raza said the woman collected the parcel on July 16 after meeting her friend at a private pizza outlet. “On July 17, she mixed potassium cyanide into ice cream and served it to her three children,” he said, identifying the victims aged as 15, 11 and 9.

Police alleged that after feeding the poisoned ice cream to the children, Aleena consumed it herself and also attempted to serve it to her husband, Nasir. The DIG said Nasir underwent a polygraph test and was thoroughly investigated during the inquiry.

The forensic report confirmed the presence of potassium cyanide, Raza said. He further alleged that “Aleena wanted to wipe out her entire family, including her husband and children,” adding that she had initially wanted the poison delivered in the United States.

According to police, the family had planned to travel to Sialkot the day after the incident. Because the victims were US nationals, an FBI team also met Aleena’s family as part of the investigation.

Separately, Raza said the investigation into the Abdullah Tahir murder case was continuing. He said police had not yet established whether contract killers were involved, but investigators had traced the vehicle allegedly used by the shooters and taken several individuals into custody.