Lahore: An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has sentenced a Taliban militant to a 33-year jail term for his involvement in terror activities in Punjab, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab police said on Wednesday.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militant Adeel Baloch, a resident of Layyah district, some 490 kms from Lahore, was arrested in a raid in May.
“Anti-Terrorism Court (Sahiwal) Special Judge Ziaullah Khan awarded a 33-year jail term to Adeel Baloch, 23, in light of the prosecution’s evidence against him for his involvement in terror activities in the Punjab province,” the CTD said in a statement.
It said the judge also imposed a fine of PKR 50,000.
According to the CTD, explosive material was recovered from his possession and during interrogation, he disclosed that he was to target security personnel in the district.
Meanwhile, the CTD arrested another TTP militant, Saleem Akhroti, from Sahiwal, some 170 kms from Lahore.
It said Akhroti is a resident of Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Explosives and banned literature have been recovered from him.
The CTD claimed that it conducted 940 intelligence-based operations in various districts of Punjab during the last three months and arrested 89 suspects.
According to the CTD, the arrested suspects belong to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, ISIS, Al-Qaeda and some other outfits.
“The arrested individuals had been planning attacks on important buildings in several cities of Punjab,” it said.
