MULTAN, Pakistan -- An Italian pair found in possession of classified documents linked with Pakistan's nuclear facilities have been arrested by intelligence agencies in southern Pakistan, police said on Saturday.

"Two suspects collecting some classified information about the Pakistan Atomic Energy Centre in Dera Ghazi Khan were arrested on Thursday by military intelligence," district police officer Qamar-uz-Zaman told AFP.

The suspects were arrested at a hotel in Dera Ghazi Khan, some 100 kilometers west of Multan, Zaman told AFP.

"We have only identified the two Italians as Bruzzune (Eds: just first names given), 35 and Claudio, 40," Zulfiqar Bhatti, manager of the Shalimar Hotel, from where the pair was arrested, told AFP. Bhatti said the pair did not have visas for Pakistan stamped on their Italian passports.

After the arrest of the two Italians, the Punjab provincial home department imposed a ban on the entry of all foreigners into Dera Ghazi Khan city and directed hotels not to give rooms to foreigners.

However, foreigners with special permission granted by the home secretary will be exempted from these restrictions, Zaman said.

Pakistan has been developing a nuclear program to match arch-rival India since the 1970's. It only went public in May 1998 when it tested five nuclear devices.

It is estimated to possess between 25 and 50 nuclear warheads, according to Jane's Defense Weekly.

Pakistan has an uranium enrichment plant and a plutonium reprocessing plant close to the capital Islamabad and at least four nuclear reactors across the country.