QUETTA, Feb 27: Police on Sunday seized a huge quantity of arms and ammunition, including rockets, hand-grenades and machine-guns during an operation in the Marri camp area near the western bypass in the suburbs of Quetta.

However, no arrests were made during a house-to-house search as no male member of any family was present, Balochistan's Inspector General of Police Chaudhry Yaqoob told reporters. Only women and children were present in the houses searched, he said.

"Arms and ammunition were buried in a fort-like house," he said, adding that a private jail was also unearthed in the house being used for torturing people. Police had taken over the fort-like house and established a permanent post, deploying two battalions there, the IG said. The operation would continue till the search of the house was completed, he added.

Mr Yaqoob also said that police had taken 15 suspects into custody from different areas of Quetta in connection with bomb explosions and the grenade attack late on Saturday night on the Radio Pakistan building.

According to sources, police arrested last week a tribesman, Hasan Marri who, during interrogation, told police about the presence of arms and ammunition in the Marri camp.

Acting on the information, several hundred policemen, led by DIG of Quetta Pervez Rafi Bhatti, cordoned off the camp area in the late hours of Saturday and launched the house-to-house search.

During the search of the fort-like house, the raiding party discovered a cellar which was being used for storing arms and ammunition. The party found 42 rockets, 32 sub-machine-guns, three light machine-guns, two hand-grenades, 30 locally-made bombs and over 8,000 rounds of ammunition.

"Torture cells were found in a private jail established in the basement of the house," Chaudhry Yaqoob said, adding that police had also seized some documents and photographs during the search of other houses.

Replying to a question, he said around 500 mud-houses were located in the Marri camp area. He said the search operation continued throughout the day and would continue for some days.