SWABI/LAKKI MARWAT: Just nine days before the local bodies’ elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, police recovered a big cache of arms and ammunition and explosives in raids in Swabi and Lakki Marwat districts on Wednesday.

A police party conducted a raid in congested Maneri Bala area of Swabi on a tipoff and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition, DSP Fayaz Khan told a press conference.

He said that the raid was conducted in Seendkhel area, adding that a suspect, Said Bahadur, was picked from the spot. A case was registered against him in the city police station.

Mr Fayaz said that the cache consisted of three G3 rifles, 18 MP5 rifles, 89 magazines of G3, seven magazines of SMG, 240 rounds of G3, 14 rounds of MP5, front hand guard of G3.

In Lakki, police recovered explosives in militancy-hit Shah Hasankhel village in the south of Lakki city.

A police official said that workers were busy in excavation work in government primary school at the village when they noticed a plastic made object. The labourers informed the school’s administration and then the matter was communicated to the area police, he said.

The official said that a contingent of police along with commandos of Elite Force and Anti-Terror Squad reached the school and besieged the area. He added that experts of bomb disposal squad were also called to the village and during digging the law-enforcers recovered two plastic drums.

“The drums contained 61 rocket launcher shells and nine mortar shells,” the official said, adding that BDS personnel defused the explosives. Shah Hasankhel village remained the stronghold of Maulana Ashraf Ali-led banned TTP group in 2007.

The school from where the explosives were recovered was then used by militants as their base camp.

In 2009, Pak army flushed out the militants from Shah Hasankhel village besides destroying their base camp in a successful operation.

And in 2010, a terrorist attack killed over 100 villagers, including security personnel, in Shah Hasankhel when a suicide bomber exploded his explosive packed vehicle in the middle of the local volleyball ground.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2015

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