LAHORE: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) has arrested 18 terrorists during 117 intelligence-based operations conducted across various cities of Punjab.
According to a CTD spokesperson, the operations were carried out in Lahore, Faisalabad, Bhakkar, Sahiwal, Hafizabad, Gujranwala and Multan.
Weapons were recovered from those detained, along with eight detonators, five feet of prima cord and 13 feet of safety fuse wire.
The spokesperson said the arrested men include Hassan Abbas, Hanif, Samiullah, Hasnain, Ata, Shehzad and others. According to the CTD, the detained suspects intended to spread fear and panic among citizens.
Separately, the spokesperson said that during 3,357 combing operations conducted this week, 274 suspicious individuals were arrested, while 121,433 people were questioned in the course of those operations.
The CTD spokesperson added that the department is proceeding in line with the objective of a secure Punjab.
The recoveries listed in the operation are of a specific technical character. Detonators, prima cord and safety fuse are the initiation components of an improvised explosive device rather than the explosive charge itself. Prima cord, a high-velocity detonating cord, is used to transmit an explosive impulse between charges, while safety fuse burns at a controlled rate to allow a delay before initiation. The seizure of such components — even in small quantities — is treated by investigators as evidence of preparatory activity rather than incidental possession.
The Counter Terrorism Department is the specialised wing of Punjab Police mandated to investigate and prosecute offences under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. It operates through regional units across the province and maintains its own intelligence, investigation and operations components, working alongside civil and military intelligence agencies on threat leads.
Intelligence-based operations, commonly abbreviated as IBOs, are targeted raids conducted against specific individuals or locations on the basis of actionable information. They are distinct from combing operations, which are broader area-sweep exercises in which police cordon a locality and conduct systematic search and verification of residents, tenants, guest houses and vehicles.
The disparity in the two sets of figures reflects that difference in method. The 117 intelligence-led raids produced 18 arrests of individuals specifically identified as terrorism suspects, while the far larger combing exercise — spanning 3,357 operations and the questioning of more than 121,000 people — yielded 274 detentions of persons described only as suspicious. The latter category typically includes unregistered tenants, individuals without verifiable identity documentation and those found in possession of unlicensed weapons.
Cases registered by the CTD are tried before designated anti-terrorism courts, which operate under a separate procedural regime that provides for expedited timelines and restrictions on bail in scheduled offences.
Punjab has recorded a sustained tempo of counter-terrorism activity over recent years, with the province’s security posture shaped both by internal threats and by spillover from instability in adjoining regions. Operations of the kind reported this week form part of a continuous cycle of surveillance, verification and pre-emptive arrest rather than a response to any single incident.
Officials said the operations will continue across the province, with tenant verification and area sweeps forming a standing component of the department’s routine work.
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