FAISALABAD, Aug 14: Three alleged terrorists, who were picked up on Friday night in a raid at a mosque on the Dajkot Road, were involved in providing shelter and financial assistance to Al-Qaeda fugitives, sources told Dawn.

Sources close to an intelligence agency, which captured Hafiz Noor Muhammad and his two students - Nabi Ahmad and Shakoor - from Jamia Masjid Mubarak, told newsmen on Saturday that the arrested men were neither directly involved in terrorism nor had they visited Afghanistan or Kashmir, but were playing the role of sponsors and protectors of terrorists for the last couple of years.

They said the suspects arrested recently in Lahore and Gujrat had provided vital information that Hafiz Noor Muhammad, along with his some accomplices, had been sheltering and financing the Al-Qaeda fugitives since the US-led raid on Afghanistan. The agency, they said, held the Qari and his two students.

The arrested men, said the sources, had information about the whereabouts and hideouts of the Al-Qaeda masterminds. They, however, denied the reports about the recovery of a satellite cell phone or any computer from Noor's residence.

Some files containing the names and addresses of the people financing him (Noor) and their links with militants of other countries had been taken into custody. Similarly, the raiding team members seized clothes, books on jihad and pamphlets of an outlawed militant organization, they said.

Inquiries revealed that all the top-ranking leaders of the outlawed Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan and the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi had visited this mosque several times from 1998 to 2002 and led prayers. They also delivered Friday sermons and collected huge donations from the people during their frequent visits.