Ex-Nazim Quetta Maqbool Lehri arrested in 'Quetta explosives case'

QUETTA: Former Nazim Quetta, Mir Maqbool Lehri, is under arrest after investigators found out the warehouse from which at least one hundred tons of bomb-making chemicals/equipment was seized a day earlier belonged to him, Geo News reported.

Sources, quoting officials privy to the matter said, “Lehri has been detained for being the proprietor of the compound where the explosive chemicals were warehoused.”

Pleading he had nothing to do with it, Lehri claimed he had rented out the warehouse quite a while ago.

“I own the compound, but it is operated by the tenants. They are to be blamed for whatever they have been warehousing in it”, said he.

Sources added that a dozen suspects including Lehri were under interrogation in this regard.

Earlier on Tuesday Frontier Corps (FC) seized the bomb-making paraphernalia including wires, detonators and mixers used to turn the chemicals into bombs in a raid on the building located in Satellite Town in Quetta.

FC Commandant Colonel Maqbool Shah said, “We found detonators, remote controls, ball bearings and a large amount of chemicals including potassium chloride and ammonium chloride.”

He added that Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) were also prepared in the same compound.

“Explosive chemicals like potassium chlorate and ammonium chlorate were wired with detonators and packed into vehicles at the warehouse”, he said.