Pak police arrests eight suspected terrorists of banned organisations

Lahore, Aug 26 (PTI) Eight suspected terrorists of banned organisations, including ISIS and Al-Qaeda in Pakistan’s Punjab province have been arrested by the country’s law enforcement agencies, police said on Saturday.

The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab police said on Saturday that it has foiled a “major terror plot” during operations in different areas of Punjab.

According to the CTD, it conducted 74 intelligence-based operations in different districts of the province arresting eight alleged terrorists with weapons, explosives and other prohibited materials.

The terrorists belonged to banned organisations, including ISIS and Al-Qaeda.

The arrested terrorists are Liaqat Khan, Muhammad Hasan, Shan Faraz, Gul Karim, Ayub Khan, Muhammad Umeer, Ameer Muawiya and Rizwan Siddiq. It said they belong to Daesh, Al-Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

The CTD said the suspects have been arrested in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan and Gujranwala.

Explosives (1200 grams), two hand Granade, one IED bomb, nine detonators, protective fuse wire 29 feet, banned literature and a flag of ISIS have been recovered from the suspects.

“The arrested terrorists planned to sabotage across the province and wanted to target important installations and religious places,” the CTD said and added the police have registered seven cases against them and shifted them to an undisclosed location for interrogation.

Last week, the CTD arrested 13 suspected terrorists including three commanders of ISIS.

The CTD officials said that during this week, 700 combing operations were conducted, and 135 suspects were taken into custody.

During the operations, more than 16,784 people were questioned, the officials added.