QUETTA: Security forces arrested an alleged agent of Afghanistan’s top spying agency in Chaman on Wednesday and seized a huge quantity of arms and ammunition found at two places in town.

According to official sources, personnel of the Frontier Corps and intelligence agencies raided a house in Boghara area of the border town and arrested the man said to be an agent of Afghanistan’s espionage agency, National Directorate of Security.

“The Afghan agent was living in a rented house in Shahedan area of Boghara, a locality on the outskirts of Chaman town,” an FC spokesman told Dawn. The agent was involved in subversive activities in Chaman and other areas. He was handed over to the authorities concerned for interrogation.

The sources said that during initial investigation the accused admitted to having been involved in targeted killings and other terrorist activities and that arms and ammunition had been brought into Balochistan for committing acts of terrorism.

The arms and ammunition recovered included four SMG magazines, one sniper scope, one LMG belt, three Motorola sets, 11 Motorola antennas, bundles of primacord, 25 small and 10 large ball-bearings, grenade pins, 18 explosive batteries, 25 battery sticks, one switch button, 18 battery connections, over 100 detonator fuses, 11kgs of explosives, one night-vision scope, 11kgs of raw explosives and one MCBIED 0.25 explosive.

“The arrested man is an Afghan national and he was on the payroll of NDS,” Balochistan government spokesman Anwarul Haq Kakar said.

He termed the arrest an important achievement and said that Indian and Afghan intelligence agencies wanted to damage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project.

Mr Kakar said: “It is a very important development. Earlier, a serving officer of Indian spy agency, Research and Analysis Wing, was arrested and now an agent of Afghan intelligence agency has been apprehended from the border town of Chaman.”

He said both the agencies had been carrying out subversive activities in Balochistan to create unrest and chaos, but the government and security forces would foil their nefarious design.

The spokesman congratulated intelligence agencies and Frontier Corps, Balochistan, for arresting the Afghan spy.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2016