Search operation: FC seize suicide vests, explosives, rockets

Eighteen suicide vests, 4,000 kilograms explosive materials, 31 small machine guns recovered

QUETTA:

Frontier Corps (FC) personnel have foiled a major terror bid ahead of Muharram processions and seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition during a search operation from Gulistan tehsil area of Qila Abdullah district, a top FC official said on Thursday.

According to FC Deputy Inspector General Brigadier Tahir Mehmood, paramilitary forces recovered 18 suicide vests, 4,000 kilograms explosive materials, 31 small machine guns and arrested a suspect identified as an Afghan national Mohammed Aslam.

Qila Abdullah district, loca­ted 85 km north of Quetta, shares a border with Afghanistan.

Addressing a news conference at FC Headquarters Quetta, Brigadier Tahir Mehmood said the target was Muharram processions and localities in Quetta.

Providing the details of the recovered arms and ammunition, he said FC also seized 1,89,864 SMG rounds, 101 small missiles , 104 missile caps, 110 MM-107 rockets, 28 G-3 rounds, 1,000 meter prima cards, 303 rifle rounds, 2,440 detonators, 184 IED batteries, 107 rocket shells, 20 packets of remote batteries, 20 batteries, 17 fuse cells, 350 mines detonators, five binoculars, four hand-grenades, 13 walkie-talkie sets, 97 rockets launcher fuses, 21 SMG magazines and other ammunition.

“These arms and ammunition were brought from neighbouring countries for use in Balochistan, especially in Quetta,” said Brigadier Mehmood. An arms factory was also discovered.

Home Minister Sarfraz Bugti accused Afghanistan and India of backing terrorists in Balochistan. “These arms and ammunition were brought from Afghanistan and India,” he told reporters at the news conference.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2014.