LAHORE: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed on Saturday to have arrested 33 suspects linked with banned outfits during a month-long intelligence-based operations in different areas of Punjab.

According to the spokesman, the CTD conducted 475 intelligence-based operations in different districts of the province to effectively deal with any untoward incident of terrorism, in which 475 suspected persons were interrogated and 33 militants were arrested with weapons, explosives and other prohibited materials.

The arrested suspects were identified as Khabeeb Ahmad, Mohammad Saifullah, Zaheer Ahmed, Haji Ahmed, Hafiz Matloob, Hamza Javed, Ayatullah, Habibullah, Ali Akbar, Syed Mumtaz Husain, Waseem Sajjad, Hafiz Mohammad Waseem, Komal Abbas, Mohammad Zafar, Abdul Rahman, Mumtaz Hussain, Bakht Jamal, Zabiullah, Tariq Mahmood, Faisal Shahzad, Noor Zaman, Shahbaz Ali, Jabbar Mumtaz, Dil Jan, Zuhurullah, Mohammad Irfan, Muslim Khan, Saad Zahoor, Syed Sham-shuddin, Dawood Khan, Amanullah, Ubaidur Rehman and Mushtaq Khan.

The spokesman claimed the suspected militants belonged to the banned organisations, including Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Fitna Al-Khuarij, 133 Brigade, Tehreek Jafria Pakistan and Al-Qaeda.

He said these militants were arrested during intelligence-based operations in Gujranwala, Hafizabad, Mianwali, Bahawalpur, Nankana Sahib, Lahore, Khushab, Jhang, Attock, Sargodha, Rahim Yar Khan, Sheikhupura, Faisalabad, Bahawalnagar, Rawalpindi, Bhakkar, Narowal and Sahiwal.

The spokesman said the arrested militants wanted to target important installations. The police have registered 32 cases against them and shifted them to an unknown location.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2024