TIMERGARA, Aug 27: Police arrested on Monday four persons, including a paediatrician and a woman, from a house in Chakdara on suspicion that they had links with militants.

Four suicide bomber jackets, 400gm of explosive sticks, 50kgs of nuts and bolts, and some other material used in explosive devices were found in the house.

Police said the Arab suspect Mohammad Yousaf, the woman’s husband, escaped before the raid. The arrested persons included paediatrician Dr Mohammad Rasool Khan, his sons Adnan and Farooq, and Ms Roheat, the Pakistani wife of the Arab national.

Ooch police station officials had been tipped off about the presence of the Arab suspect in the house of Dr Rasool. A police party headed by a DSP conducted the raid.

The doctor denied any links with militants and told journalists that Mohammad Yousaf had come to his house along with his wife and three children and they were living on the second floor of the house.

“The recovered items belong to Yousaf and I have nothing to do with him,” Dr Rasool said. He claimed that Mr Yousaf was present at the time of the raid and he didn’t know if he had been arrested. Official sources said the Arab man had married the Pakistani woman five years back in Allahdand, Malakand Agency, and had three children.

For the past few months the family had been residing in Chakdara.

Locals claimed that the Arab suspect had been taken into custody by intelligence agency personnel before the police raid.