The Sindh Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) said on Monday that a major terrorist attack had been averted in Karachi.

Addressing a press conference alongside CTD Additional Inspector General (IG) Zulfiqar Ali Larik in Karachi, CTD Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Ghulam Azfar Mahesar said that law enforcement agencies and the “premier intelligence agency” received information that terrorists were planning an attack to target the city.

Mahesar said that the terrorists were planning to attack specific targets in Karachi to “destabilise” national security. He said that intelligence agencies, the Special Branch, the Intelligence Bureau as well as Sindh and Balochistan CTD designed a strategy to thwart these plans.

He said that intelligence officials were deployed in different locations, while focusing on Karachi’s west region.

Mahesar said that after several days of robust efforts, officials succeeded in getting information on a terrorist hideout in Raees Goth, Karachi, where terrorists had prepared a large amount of explosive material.

He said that upon receiving the information, Sindh CTD and the “premier intelligence agency” conducted a joint raid.

“We captured one terrorist, while three or four of them managed to escape the scene,“ he said. Mahesar affirmed that the agencies had initiated a search operation to ensure their capture.

“The officials recovered a Mazda truck loaded with explosive materials,” he said. He said 30 drums filled with explosives, five cylinders filled with explosives, 2,000kg of explosives and detonators had been seized.

He said that raids were conducted on six sites on the information provided by the terrorist who was arrested, after which another two terrorists were captured, who were also in possession of explosive material.

He said a total of three terrorists had been arrested.

Mahesar said that during the initial interrogation, the terrorists revealed that they were associated with the Bashir Zeb network of the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Majeed Brigade.

The CTD official said that the additional interrogation and investigation was under way, and authorities were conducting raids to make more arrests. He further said that facilitators and handlers of this terrorist network were identified.

“All the planning regarding the attack was done from outside the country,“ he said. The CTD official said that the facilitators and the handlers involved had been identified, adding that several teams were working on their arrest.

He said that the explosive material that was shifted to the metropolis was “ready to go”, adding that this was a major achievement of all agencies that had prevented a major attack in Karachi.

He said that the explosive material seized was “a mix”, saying that some of it was an amalgam of commercial explosives and other items, while some of it was smuggled through Balochistan’s mountainous regions.

The CTD official said that more details on this would be shared at a later date.