GUJRAT, Dec 10 The police picked up 448 Afghan immigrants for not having legal identity documents in Gujrat in a crackdown launched on Wednesday.

On the first day of the operation, 150 Afghans were taken into custody on Wednesday and 298 on Thursday.

District Police Officer Tariq Abbas Qureshi told Dawn that the operation was initiated on the instructions of senior officials. The police seized weapons from the arrested men.

Mr Qureshi said though some of the arrested Afghans either had Pakistani identity cards or refugee cards, the police would check the authenticity of the documents.

Sources said the crackdown was launched after the arrest of a suspect suicide-bomber in the neighboring district of Jhelum. The police booked 98 Afghans under the Foreign Act.