QUETTA, May 30: Police seized two vehicles carrying about 2,000kg of explosives and a large number of detonators, mines and remote control systems in Kuchlak on Wednesday and claimed to have foiled an attempt to carry out subversive acts in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan.

Seven people were arrested, Quetta police chief Mir Zubair Mehmood said at a press briefing in New Kuchlak police station.

He said the vehicles were intercepted near a railway crossing on the Kuchlak-Bostan road early in the morning on the basis of a tip.

Officials of the bomb disposal squad checked the vehicles and 2,000kg of explosives, 2,980 detonators, 110 anti-personnel mines and 616 remote control systems were seized.

“Some bags of potassium chloride, a material used in fireworks and bombs, were also found on the vehicles,” Mir Zubair said.

He said initial probe showed the arrested suspects might be foreigners and a team of senior investigators was interrogating them. They wanted to smuggle the explosives to Quetta and other areas in the province for subversive activities, he said. “It is too early to say from where the explosives had been brought.”

He said Chief Minister Aslam Raisani had awarded Rs100,000 to an ASI of Kuchlak police for playing an important role in Wednesday’s action, adding that other members of the team had also been given promotion, cash awards and certificates.