LAHORE: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on Monday smashed a cell of Daesh, the banned so-called Islamic State (IS), operating from Lahore and arrested its five members from Bhatta Chowk near the Defence Housing Authority.

The five Pakistani militants, all hailing from Sialkot, were distributing hate material, inviting people to join Daesh and collecting funds for the terrorist outfit’s operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The alleged militants were identified as Nazifullah, Ziaur Rehman, Muhammad Ishtiaq, Abdul Rehman Butt and Malik Kashif.

A CTD spokesperson said the department had received a tip-off about the militants.

According to the FIR, the suspects were arrested from Masjid Tauheed Ahle Sunna at Farooq Azam Chowk of Nadirabad. One of the alleged militants was carrying a receipt book with printed Daesh monogram and hate material. The militant had issued receipts from serial No 801 to 810 at the time when the CTD team arrested him. The team recovered Rs12,000 from another militant and 15 copies of a book carrying the title, ‘Shaeed Usama’. From another, the team recovered 15 copies of books with title ‘Nida-i-Haq’, receipt book of Daesh monogram and Rs10,000. The CTD officials also recovered from another militant 10 copies of the banned book with title “Hattain”. They also recovered banned literature and cash from two other suspected militants.

“The law enforcers recovered 40 banned books and funds from the militants,” a CTD spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson added, a CTD team arrested an alleged terrorist of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi from Kotla Jam Bypass road in Bhakkar.

The suspect was identified as Muhammad Abuzar. An FIR has been registered against him with CTD Sargodha.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2021