LAHORE: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed on Saturday to have arrested 14 suspected militants linked with banned outfits during operations in different areas of the province.

According to the spokesman, the CTD Punjab conducted intelligence-based operations in different districts and took 147 suspected persons into custody for interrogation.

The CTD arrested 14 alleged militants after interrogation and recovered weapons, explosives and other prohibited materials from them.

The suspects were identified as Safin Ahmed, Ansar Ali, Waheedullah, Saad Habib Al-Madani, Abdul Salam, Qamarul Zaman, Zahid Asad, Khair Din, Hafiz Usman, Amjad, Bilal Usman, Ali Akbar, Shahab and Imran.

The suspects belonged to banned organisations Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Daesh and Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LeJ). The suspects were arrested from Gujranwala, Bahawalpur, Sahiwal, Faisalabad, Sargodha and Lahore.

The spokesman said 2,843 gram explosive material, three hand-grenades, four IED bombs, 12 detonators, 19.5-foot safety fuse wire, 6.5-foot prima card, 39 pamphlets of banned organisation, 10 stickers, four receipt books, a mobile phone and Rs43,440 in cash were recovered from the possession of militants.

The spokesman said the terrorists had planned to sabotage across the province and wanted to target important installations. The police have registered 13 cases against the militants shifted them to an unknown location.

He said 588 combing operations were also conducted during this week with the help of local police and security agencies, 25,360 people were checked, 79 suspects arrested, 78 FIRs registered and 29 recoveries were made.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2023