A senior Pakistani intelligence official said Wednesday that he cannot confirm or deny a report by The New York Times that the nation's spy agency detained five informants who helped the CIA before the raid that left Osama bin Laden dead.

The official said the agency is actively searching for information about bin Laden's stay in Pakistan and his support network.

"We want to know how he could stay in that area and what kind of support network he had," the official told CNN.

The official asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

"We want to know everything," the official said when asked whether the spy agency was looking for informants who helped the CIA.

The New York Times report Tuesday, which was attributed to U.S. officials, said the five informants who worked for the CIA copied license plates of cars visiting bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, before the May raid.

The detention of the informants could be seen as more evidence of the tenuous relationship between Pakistan and the U.S., The New York Times said.

Syed Azmat Ali, a military spokesman, told CNN he could not directly comment on the report, but said arrests have occurred after the bin Laden killing.

"There were a number of people arrested in Abbottabad after the raid on the Osama bin Laden compound," Ali said. "So this is not a new piece of information."

Ali said those arrested were "picked up from the compound where bin Laden was found and a house in Abbottabad that was used to monitor the bin Laden compound activities."

Those arrested "could have been Pakistanis who were informants to the CIA," he said.

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