Five TTP men held with explosives

Police say have thwarted a major terror attack on polio vaccinators

SHABQADAR: Police on Thursday claimed to have arrested five alleged militants of banned Tehreek Taliban Pakistan (TTP) from Shabqadar with heavy cache of explosive and ammunition.

“The arrests have thwarted a major terror-bid,” SHO Shabqadar Police Station Muhammad Arif told the media.

Arif said the militants were planning an attack on vaccination teams during the on-going anti-polio drive in the area.

Police displayed the recovered 40kg of explosive, seven mortar shells, three speaker magnets, two IEDs, 10 hand grenades, 13 detonators, and five remote control receivers with 20 meter of cord from the spot.



Police also showed the five suspects with their faces covered and ammunition to media and added that by doing so they have saved the area from destruction.

Sharing details of the operation, Arif said that police had received information through their network of informers about presence of TTP militants in Shabqadar. The informers had warned that these miscreants were planning an attack on polio vaccination team as well as any government installation in Shabqadar, he said.

“The ammunition and explosives had already been dumped at a safe house and the heinous plan of mayhem and carnage only awaited the perpetrators,” the SHO said.

Owing to prior intelligence information, police spread out at various spots in Shabqadar and were finally able to track down the five suspects belonging to Bajaur Agency.

During their visit to the remand room, one of the suspects broke down under intense interrogation and coughed up that they have hidden explosive and guns in a plastic drum at Wacha Wala Graveyard of Subhan Khwar area on Peshawar-Shabqadar Road.

Subsequently, police raided the spot and recovered the explosives and other weapons.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2017.