March 8, 2002	Friday	Zilhaj 23, 1422

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KOHAT, March 7: The Frontier Corps seized a huge quantity of heavy arms and ammunition being smuggled from across the border in the Kurram Agency late on Wednesday night. The haul was the biggest during the last one month.

Meanwhile, the military authorities tightened security at the long border to stop the fleeing Al Qaeda members from entering Pakistan.

In October last when the US bombed Tora Bora mountains adjacent to the Pakistani tribal territory, more than 100 Al Qaeda members were arrested and later handed over to the US authorities.

The commanding officer of the FC, Col Hameed Khattak, in charge of the patrolling teams in the mountainous and porous Pakistan-Afghan border in the Kurram Agency, told Dawn by telephone on Thursday that the smugglers had come face to face with them but escaped leaving behind the arms and ammunition.

The smugglers, five in number, were carrying the arms on the backs of donkeys. They fled towards Afghanistan.

The FC official in charge confirmed the incident but refused to give further details on the pretext that the army was not supposed to take credit for its duties.

The arms included missiles, rocket launchers, Klashnikovs, bombs and thousands of klashnikov rounds.