20 militants of banned outfits held in 8 months

LAHORE :At least 20 militants of banned organisations were arrested by the law and enforcement agencies in Punjab during the last eight months, The News has learnt.

According to the statistics available with The News, three militants of Islamic State (IS), nine militants of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), five militants of Balochistan Republican Army (BRA) and three militants of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) were arrested by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD).

According to well-informed sources, on August 17 the CTD prevented a suicide attack on the office of a law enforcement agency in Lahore by arresting a TTP militant. The CTD had got information from a credible source about a terrorist planning a suicide bomb attack. He was waiting for another terrorist near the Lahore Railway Station. The CTD personnel raided the place and arrested the suspect identified as Liaqat Khan. A suicide jacket, two hand grenades, a 30-bore pistol and six bullets were seized from his possession. He was a cadre of TTP.

The CTD arrested three TTP militants during a raid on Mahmoodkot Town of Muzaffargarh district on July 22. They were arrest was following an intelligence tip-off regarding presence of militants in Mahmoodkot. During the operation, the three militants, identified as Waseem Ahmad, Abdul Rauf and Ehtisham, were arrested along with hand grenades, pistols and explosives. The CTD on July 14 arrested three LeJ militants from undisclosed location of Gujranwala city. They were militants identified as Muhammad Saqib, Abdul Malik and Mujahid Iqbal. Detonators, safety fuses and explosives were seized from their possession. The CTD on July 7 arrested three IS militants in an operation at Ranjhai village of Daska following an information-based operation.

The suspected terrorists were planning their subversive activities in Daska, Sambrial and Sialkot. They were identified as Ahmed Idrees, Azam Ali and Mazhar Mukhtar. They were stated to be the active members of IS and its facilitators as they were giving financial aid to the banned militant organisation and collecting funds for it. The CTD also collected evidence of their facilitation, financial help and funds collection for the IS and other related materials. Explosive devices were also seized from them.

The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the CTD) in a joint raid in Rawalpindi city arrested two TTP) militants identified as Kaleemullah and Farid Khan on June 1. They had allegedly beheaded a Polish engineer, Piotr Stanczak, in 2009 in South Waziristan. The Polish engineer was abducted in Attock in September 2008 and a case was registered with Basal police station against his unidentified kidnappers. The CTD and the ISI made the arrest when they obtained intelligence reports about the arrival of the duo in Rawalpindi to commit a terrorist act. The raiding teams seized explosives from their possession. After this breakthrough, the case of kidnapping and subsequent murder of Piotr has been opened. A senior official privy to the developments said the terrorists had held Piotr Stanczak captive for more than four months. He said a 7-minute horrific video was delivered to reporters in February 2009 that showed execution of the Polish engineer by unidentified militants. During interrogation, Kaleemullah confessed that he had taken part in beheading of Piotr Stanczak, while Farid Khan said he had kept him in his custody in Darra Adam Khel for several days before his murder.

The CTD on March 25 arrested five militants of BRA during a raid on Rojhan in Rajanpur district. The CTD personnel raided the hideouts of the militants who were planning to attack security personnel. Some seven kg explosive material, detonators, safety fuses, prima cord, and two Kalashnikovs and bullets were seized from their possession.

The CTD arrested three TTP militants and seized arms and explosives from their possession near Gatwala Bridge in Faisalabad on February 3. A CTD team had received information that three militants belonging to TTP were present near Gatwala Bridge along with explosive material and arms.

Following the information, the CTD team conducted a raid and arrested Abdul Salam, Maodood Christi and Ali Muhammad Khan. The team also seized safety fuse, three detonators, two pistols and 10 bullets from their possession.