Huge cache of arms, ammunition recovered; two smugglers nabbed

Rawalpindi: In a major breakthrough, the Rawalpindi police have recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition during a crackdown on arms smugglers who were transporting the banned weapons from Afghanistan to Rawalpindi, police sources said.

The police officials investigating the case believed that such a huge consignment of arms and ammunition was being smuggled by the smugglers at the behest of anti-state elements who were planning to create unrest in the sensitive cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Acting on actionable intelligence, the police intercepted a suspicious vehicle during a snap-checking operation, discovering a heavy arms cache. The Pirwadhai Police, who received information from intelligence agencies, conducted a major operation and arrested two smugglers, Tariq and Abdul Haseeb, who were attempting to transport the banned weapons in their vehicle.

The police seized a substantial arsenal from the suspects' vehicle, including pistols, rifles, kalashnikovs, MP5 rifles, and bullets of various calibres. The seized weapons included 50 pistols, 30 rifles, 4 kalashnikovs, 4 MP5 rifles, 2 MP5 rifles in M4 shape, 1 rifle of 22 bore, 1 rifle of 30 bore in kalashnikov style, 2 rifles of 12 bore in Kalashnikov style, along with more than 4,800 bullets of various calibers, 100 cartridges and 135 magazines, the police said. The police also confiscated the vehicle used for transportation. One accomplice, Alyas, managed to escape, and efforts are underway to apprehend him.

CPO Syed Khalid Hamdani appreciated the efforts of SP (Rawal) Faisal Saleem, ASP, and Pirwadhai Police for their swift action.