Lahore, July 19: Pakistani counter-terrorism officials on Friday announced the arrest of Amin ul Haq, a senior Al-Qaeda leader and a close aide of slain terrorist Osama bin Laden, from Punjab province and foiling a "large-scale terrorism project" in the country. "The terrorist was apprehended during an intelligence-based operation," DIG Counter-Terrorism Department, Usman Akram Gonadal said. Haq, designated as a global terrorist by the United Nations, was taken into custody from Sarai Alamgir, a town in the Gujrat district in Punjab province.

A Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab Police spokesperson described Haq's arrest as a significant breakthrough in the fight against terrorism. In a statement, the police spokesperson said Haq was a close associate of Al-Qaeda founder bin Laden since 1996 and he had allegedly planned sabotage activities across the province and wanted to target important installations and personalities. Elon Musk Laughs at the Joke ‘Al Qaeda Rebrands as A.I. Qaeda, Raises $1B’.

“The apprehension of Amin ul Haq is an important development in the ongoing efforts to combat terrorism in Pakistan and around the world,” the CTD said. It said that Haq was planning a “large-scale terrorism project” in Pakistan. The CTD has registered a case against the arrested terrorist and shifted him to an unknown location for interrogation. Bin Laden was killed in 2011 during a US raid on his hideout in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan Now Largest Terror Group in Afghanistan: UN.

A high-ranking Pakistani CTD officer said that a case had been registered against Haq and authorities would probe what was a high-profile terrorist doing in Pakistan. "He was seen in Afghanistan in 2021. He also has Pakistan's ID Card, on which Lahore and Haripur's addresses have been added," Geo News quoted the CTD officer as saying. The United Nations Security Council's website shows that Haq, who was born in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province in 1960, was designated as a global terrorist in 2001.