LAHORE: The Counter-Terrorism Department on Thursday took two members of a banned organisation into custody who allegedly spied on the assassinated home minister of Punjab, retired Col Shuja Khanzada.

The suspects, identified as Qari Tahir and Mohammad Zubair, had constantly been following Mr Khanzada over the past couple of weeks before terrorists targeted him with a suicide attack in Attock on Aug 17.

The suspects were arrested on information provided by intelligence agencies and they were shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation, a senior CTD official told Dawn.

Meanwhile, seven members of a banned organisation were detained from different areas of Lahore.

Three of the arrested people were identified as Qari Attiqur Rehman, Mohammad Irshad and Abdul Razzaq.

CTD SP Maroof Safdar Wahla told Dawn that his department was carrying out operations against members of banned organisations on a daily basis.

He said the arrested people were not hardcore criminals, but they were members of a banned organisation.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2015

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