PESHAWAR, June 29: In a midnight operation against outlaws, the city police arrested 11 alleged hardened criminals and 52 others for possessing illegal weapons and seized a large quantity of arms in Mathra locality, a press release issued here on Sunday said.

The operation began at 1am on the night between Wednesday and Thursday and continued till 8am, the statement said. The illegal weapons seized included seven Kalashnikovs, nine riffles, two shotguns, one Pashpasha, nine pistols, one 7mm gun and 1,300 cartridges of various bore weapons.

This was the second operation against the outlaws in Mathra, as few days ago the city police arrested 28 alleged outlaws and recovered a large quantity of arms.

The statement said the anti-outlaw operation would continue in the area till Mathra was purged of criminals.