Pakistan police arrest 7 armed men, recovers large cache of weapons

Seven armed men were arrested on Tuesday outside the district and sessions court next to Baba ground in Lahore.

Five guns were seized from the men, including Kalashnikovs, Dawn quoted the court's security head, Mubashir Awan, as saying.

More than a thousand bullets and 15 magazines were also recovered, Awan said.

Five rifles, five pistols, and 700 bullets were recovered from the seven men identified as Shehroz, Imran, Ehsanullah, Bilal, Faisal, Riaz, and one other, Dawn quoted a spokesperson for the Lahore police's statement. However, the suspects were shifted to the Islampura police station for registration of a case against them.

Police said that an investigation is underway to ascertain why the armed men were present outside the court.

There have been several incidents of shootings inside courtrooms in Lahore and elsewhere during the last year, Dawn reported.

In November 2020, police arrested a gunman after he shot two brothers dead inside the "Bakhshi khana", a lockup for under-trial prisoners, of a sessions court in Lahore.

In August, a man facing a murder charge was gunned down outside a courtroom at a sessions court in Lahore allegedly by the complainant party. He died on the spot while the killer escaped without facing any resistance from the security personnel deputed on the court's premises.

( With inputs from ANI )