LAHORE: The Punjab Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) claims to have arrested nine suspects belonging to various banned militant organisations. The arrests came during various intelligence-based operations (IBOs) carried out across Punjab. A spokesperson for the CTD said here on Monday as many as 70 IBOs were conducted in various parts of the province. During these operations, the CTD interrogated 69 suspects, resulting in the arrest of nine of them. He said two of the arrested suspects were associated with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and were detained in Lahore. A suspected Daesh militant was arrested in Faisalabad whereas three suspects associated with Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LeJ) were detained in Bahawalnagar and Hafizabad. The CTD also apprehended two militants linked to extremist group Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) in Bahawalpur and Sialkot while a suspect belonging to the outlawed Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent was arrested in Gujranwala.
The CTD spokesperson said a total of eight first information reports (FIRs) were registered against the arrested suspects in various police stations located in Lahore, Bahawalpur and Gujranwala. During the operation, the law enforcers seized a cache of weapons, including two hand grenades, one improvised explosive device, 508g of explosives, seven banned books, one banned magazine, 12 pamphlets of defunct organisations, 44 stickers of defunct organisations, three receipt books, three mobile phones and a sum of Rs131,830 in cash. The CTD said it conducted 314 “combing operations” with local police and security agencies across the province, which resulted in 47 arrests and the registration of 48 first information reports.
(Daily Dawn)
*********************