LAHORE: The five suspects involved in the massive aerial firing at a wedding party in Manawan have been arrested.

A team, headed by Cantt SP Investigations Dr Anoosh Masood, arrested the suspects in the wee hours of Tuesday.

The police team was constituted after Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif took notice of the incident and ordered arrest ofthe suspects.

A source said eight accused had been nominated in the FIR lodged by the Manawan police after the footage of the firing was aired by the electronic media. Those booked were identified as Zohaib Butt, the brother of MNA Sohail Shaukat Butt, Tariq, Ijaz, Babar, Younas, Azhar, Ghulam Murtaza and Waheed. Of them, Tariq and Ijaz had escaped before the raid and managed to secure pre-arrest bail while Zohaib was still on the run. The remaining five suspects have been arrested.

During the inquiry, the source said, it transpired that the TV channels had aired a two-year-old footage of aerial firing. The marriage party was organised in October 2015, the police officials briefed their seniors, claiming the FIR was lodged on a two-year-old incident to calm down the hype. Staff Reporter