LAHORE, Aug 3: Police and intelligence personnel have arrested at least half a dozen foreigners and Pakistanis suspected of working for international terror groups.

Among them is a Punjab police constable, Raja Waqar Azeem, who was arrested on Monday evening. Azeem has been working with the security team of Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi since July 12.

"We have initiated an inquiry to find out how a policeman with a history of having been involved in militant activities managed to get posted at such a sensitive place," Lahore police chief, DIG Tariq Saleem told Dawn on Tuesday.

Operations SSP had been ordered to look into the matter, he said. Security for the CM had also been beefed up, he said.

Another senior officer close to the investigation said that he (the policeman) had been an active member of various militant groups. An inquiry already completed against him had proved that he was involved in anti-state activities.

The officer said the arrested policeman had been handed over to a federal intelligence agency for interrogation. The officer believed that the suspension of Lahore headquarters police SP Malik Tassadaq Hayat was part of the arrest at the CM House because he was responsible for the posting.

More such suspensions were likely, he added. The Punjab chief minister presided over a meeting on Tuesday evening to discuss the matter and he is reported to have taken strong notice of the 'lapse'.

Meanwhile, a foreigner was arrested in Hafizabad. "We took him into custody from a bus-stand," Hafizabad police chief Aslam Ghauri said. He added the foreigner had introduced himself as Jumma Ibrahim.

He (the foreigner) seemed to be from an African country, the police chief said. He added the suspect did not have any legal document and could not satisfy the police when he was interrogated.

The only document he had on him was a certificate issued by the UNHCR for his refugee status in Islamabad, he added. "Sometimes he would introduce himself as a Syrian and sometimes as an Egyptian.

Once he said he was on a business trip but he could not name any businessman in the city." The foreigner was handed over to an intelligence agency. Three men, including a foreigner, were arrested in Sheikhupura, an intelligence agency official said.

He added the three were detained when their vehicle was intercepted by law- enforcement personnel. They were driving to Lahore. Three kalashnikovs and five hand-grenades were seized from them, the official said. However, there was no official confirmation from Sheikhupura.

Two other suspects, whose identities could not be ascertained immediately, were arrested in a raid on a seminary in Gujranwala. However, Gujranwala police chief Syed Saud Aziz would not confirm the raid.

"It was not a raid," he said by phone from Gujranwala. He added that police had gone to the seminary in connection with 35 Afghans living there illegally. "We had asked the seminary administration either to get legal documents for the students or send them back. "They are no more in the seminary as they had been sent to Afghanistan," Mr Aziz said.