Afghan intelligence agent nabbed in Chaman

In ongoing effort to counter anti-state elements after the arrest of Indian intelligence officer from Balochistan, the Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel on Wednesday apprehended an Afghan intelligence agent in Chaman town, near the Pak-Afghan border.

According to FC spokesperson, the Afghan officer was arrested during raid in Shuhdan area.

Explosives and heavy weapons including four SMGs, hundreds of bullets and sniper scope were recovered from a house where the suspect was hiding, the spokesperson added.

Chaman is a small town in the southwestern province of Balochistan and is one of the two main crossing points for supplies to American and Nato troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. Pakistan and Afghanistan have long accused each other of sheltering militants.

Last month, the law enforcement personnel detained Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav in the violence-plagued province after he had illegally entered the country from Iran.

Authorities say Jadhav was working for India s main external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

India has confirmed that the man was a former Indian navy official but denied the man was a spy.

The interior ministry, in a letter to Iran’s ambassador in Islamabad, Mehdi Honardoost, said the Indian made had made “startling revelations” about an Indian spy network operating against Pakistan from Iranian soil.

“His mission included spying and sabotage, in addition to fomenting insecurity and instability in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan,” the ministry said in the letter..

Pakistan asked Iran to provide information about the Indian man s activities, and the people he interacted with there, the ministry said.

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but most impoverished province, is home to a raging insurgency that has claimed the lives of hundreds of soldiers and militants since it re-ignited in 2004, with rebels often attacking government installations and personnel.