FAISALABAD, April 6: Nine days after a crackdown was launched by the joint teams of FBI and local agencies in Faisalabad against Al Qaeda men, six more arrests taking place at a hideout in Muslim Town the same day came to light on Saturday.

Dawn inquiries showed that special teams had conducted raids on seven houses in the early hours of March 28. During raids in Faisal Town, Samanabad, Mansoorabad, Madina Town and Chak No 201 RB, the special teams arrested over four dozen persons on the charge of having links with the Al Qaeda men. However, the arrest of six other Al-Qaeda members at Muslim Town, who are said to be Arabs and Afghans, came to light on Saturday.

Sources revealed that the men picked up from house No 30-A, Officers Block, Muslim Town, were believed to be main characters of Al-Qaeda and were shifted to Lahore immediately after their arrest.

The raiding team also seized some files, photographs, a computer, two mobile phones, and other belongings of the arrested persons.

The watchman of a house adjacent to the hideout revealed that heavy police contingents accompanied by some foreigners, including two women, had raided the house in early hours of March 28 and none of the area people was allowed to get close to the place during the operation.

“The team arrested seven or eight persons, including six foreigners. They were immediately shifted in a police van guarded by commandos of the Elite Police Force. Some commandos were covering the faces of the arrested persons with black masks when they were presented before a team of foreign commandos,” the watchman claimed.

He told that the raiding team had also encircled a Madressah situated only metres away from the hideout to avoid retaliation from its students.

The house is owned by Mohammad Tariq, the owner of the National Plant Designing of Hajiabad, and was rented through property dealers Saleem and Taj Mohammad for Rs15,000 a month a couple of months ago.

Meanwhile, four persons arrested at Chak No201 RB, including Abdul Wahid, and his sons — Abdul Jabbar and Abdul Majeed, were released on Thursday night. Blindfolded, they were dropped outside their houses by a special team.

They were rounded up from their house during the March 28 crackdown and shifted to Lahore for interrogation.