Pre-dawn raid: Huge haul of weapons seized from Quetta house
Police say the house does not belong to Shahzain Bugti
QUETTA:
The police on Wednesday seized billions of rupees worth of arms and ammunition in a pre-dawn raid on a house which was initially reported to be owned by Jamhoori Watan Party’s chief Shahzain Bugti, the grandson of the late Nawab Akbar Bugti.
“The under-construction house, located the New Algilani Road neighbourhood of Quetta does not belong to Shahzain Bugti,” Capital City Police Officer Abdul Razaq Cheema said at a news conference. Arms and ammunition worth Rs7-8 billion were seized in the raid. The haul included explosives, IEDs, detonators, seven Light Machineguns (LMG), 100 hand grenades, four rocket launchers, 100 rocket-propelled grenades, wires, dozens of AK-47s and more than 50,000 LMG bullets.
“These arms and ammunition are used in mass killings and this raid will help reduce incidents of bombings and targeted killings in Quetta,” CCPO Cheema said. The weaponry was recovered from an underground water tanker in the house.
“Three suspects were arrested from the house. Law enforcement agencies did not siege the residence of Nawabzada Shahzain Bugti. The police are investigating the ownership of the residence,” Cheema said. However, he did not name the arrested men. He said their links with banned organisations were being investigated.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2014.
The police on Wednesday seized billions of rupees worth of arms and ammunition in a pre-dawn raid on a house which was initially reported to be owned by Jamhoori Watan Party’s chief Shahzain Bugti, the grandson of the late Nawab Akbar Bugti.
“The under-construction house, located the New Algilani Road neighbourhood of Quetta does not belong to Shahzain Bugti,” Capital City Police Officer Abdul Razaq Cheema said at a news conference. Arms and ammunition worth Rs7-8 billion were seized in the raid. The haul included explosives, IEDs, detonators, seven Light Machineguns (LMG), 100 hand grenades, four rocket launchers, 100 rocket-propelled grenades, wires, dozens of AK-47s and more than 50,000 LMG bullets.
“These arms and ammunition are used in mass killings and this raid will help reduce incidents of bombings and targeted killings in Quetta,” CCPO Cheema said. The weaponry was recovered from an underground water tanker in the house.
“Three suspects were arrested from the house. Law enforcement agencies did not siege the residence of Nawabzada Shahzain Bugti. The police are investigating the ownership of the residence,” Cheema said. However, he did not name the arrested men. He said their links with banned organisations were being investigated.
Earlier in the day, an official of the Balochistan police told reporters that the residence belonged to Shahzain Bugti. However, Shahzain said his house was not raided but ‘besieged’ by security forces. “The security forces laid a siege to my residence from 12am until 6am. The forces had not entered my house and went back,” Shahzain told The Express Tribune.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2014.