KARACHI, Jan 14: Police on Saturday claimed to have arrested the suspected planner of some major terrorist attacks in the city, adding that he was making arrangements for an attack on the Chehlum of Imam Hussain to be observed on Sunday, said a senior police official.

Additional Inspector General of Police Ghulam Shabbir Shaikh told a press conference that the anti-extremist cell of the CID police raided a hideout in Ittehad Town within the remit of the Mochko police station and arrested the suspected militant, Dawood alias Waleed alias Ishaq, after a brief shoot-out.

He said that Dawood had organised several attacks in Karachi including the 2010 suicide bombing on the shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi. He said that the suspect was planning a major terrorist strike on the main Chehlum procession on Sunday, but the police succeeded in arresting him.

The CID also put on display the arms and explosives allegedly recovered from the suspect. Those included 50 kilograms of explosives, four suicide jackets, a light machinegun, a rocket launcher, 10 hand grenades, two AK-47 assault rifles, two TT pistols, 1,000 bullets, detonating wires and five detonators.

“He is associated with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan,” he said. “He took part in the planning of the attack on the shrine of Abadullah Shah Ghazi and the botched Seaview blast.”