MARDAN: Police claimed on Monday to have arrested several suspects for torching the Rashakai Interchange toll plaza during protests sparked by acquittal of a Christian woman in a blasphemy case by the Supreme Court.

Zairdad Khan, SHO Risalpur police station, told Dawn that they had registered FIRs in the case of ransacking and burning down of Rashakai Interchange toll plaza against several protesters.

He said they had got some videos of protesters who were setting fire to the building during protests in the wake of the Supreme Court decision.

“We have arrested more than a dozen suspected persons in this connection who are being interrogated,” he said. However, he did not disclose names of the detained persons, saying it would affect police operation against the alleged persons involved in the burning and ransacking incident.

He claimed that the police were raiding hideouts of suspected persons and would soon succeed in arresting all the perpetrators of the incident.