QUETTA: Frontier Corps on Saturday claimed to have seized a huge quantity of arms, ammunition, explosives and suicide jackets during a search operation in the outskirt of Quetta, the capital of insurgency-hit Balochistan province.

The FC seized 1650 anti-personnel mines, 480 hand grenades, 2524 kilograms of explosive material, seven suicide jackets and other arms and ammunition during the operation conducted on three compounds located in the suburbs of Quetta.

During the of display of seized equipment, Commander Southern Command, Lieutenant General Nasir Khan Janjua lauded the role of FC and intelligence agencies and said "I am proud of the intelligence agencies for this remarkable job,"

He added that the terrorists were planning to take the lives of scores of innocent and vulnerable people but the intelligence apparatus timely foiled their plans.

The FC have conducted a series of raids and search operations in Quetta and near Pak-Afghan border and recovered the huge cache of arms and ammunition during the past three days.

FC Spokesman, Khan Wasey said the miscreants had smuggled the weapons from Afghanistan to blow up gas pipelines, power pylons and railway tracks in the province.

The raided compounds were used by miscreants to prepare explosives and suicide jackets in order to carry out a series of terrorist attacks, added Wasey.

"All these weapons were brought to Quetta from the Pak-Afghan border," Wasey claimed.

FC had also arrested two suspects during search operations but they were freed after interrogation.

Wasey further said efforts were underway to bring the perpetrators of terrorist incidents in Balochistan to book.

In another operation, the FC also recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition near the Pak-Afghan border, Chaman.

FC Spokesman said 23 rockets, explosives and other weapons were recovered during the operation.

Balochistan has been under the grip of violence for more than a decade. The year 2013 witnessed a sharp rise in the number suicide attacks and other terrorist incidents.