LAHORE, Nov 16: The Punjab police claimed on Friday to have averted a major terrorist attempt by apprehending two suspects in Gujrat, who wanted to sabotage peace during Muharram.

The police also recovered a huge cache of explosive material including suicide jackets and weapons accumulated by the alleged terrorists at their Gujrat residences. They belong to an outlawed militant organisation.

The recovery from the suspects included five suicide jackets, three MP-5 rifles, 75kg explosive material sufficient to prepare 60 suicide jackets, 25 hand grenades, 250 Kalashnikovs, 100 9MM pistols, 11 remote control instruments, 12 batteries, 24 magazines, 58 manual detonators, 25 electric detonators besides detonating cards and mobile chips.

“The suspects’ terror plot was unearthed when the police were tracing criminals who had killed four policemen in the vicinity of the Banda police station of Gujrat,” IGP Haji Habibur Rehman told a news conference here on Friday. He said the arrested men wanted to target Muharram processions.

The suspects, Shafiq Ahmad and his son Abdul Rehman belonged to an organisation which was involved in deadly terrorist attack at an army camp near the Chenab in July 2012. Eight soldiers and a policeman were killed in the attack.

The IGP said the suspects had shot dead four policemen at a picket near Kathala Phatak in Gujrat in March. He said following the March 12 attack on policemen, he had assigned the task to the Gujrat DPO to arrest the criminals. The police traced Shafiq Ahmad and arrested him in his Saghar residence. During raid, the police recovered weapons dumped in a portion of his house.

The suspect told the police about his association with the militant organisation. On the basis of the information gathered from the suspect, the IG said the police arrested his son Abdul Rehman in his Chah Bairiwala residence and recovered weapons and other explosive material. The recovery of an MP5 rifle strengthened the police doubt about his involvement in the killing of four police employees, said the police chief.

“A comprehensive strategy has been devised to challenge the terrorists on the basis of the information gathered through intelligence reports,” the IG said. The Punjab police, he said, had taken into custody several other suspects during search operation launched after the arrest of the terrorists.