LANDI KOTAL (Khyber Agency), Sept 19: The Afghan authorities on Wednesday handed over 11 Pakistani prisoners to officials of the political administration at the Torkhum border, officials said.

The prisoners had been recently released from the Pul-i-Charkhi prison in Kabul. They were immediately shifted to a Landi Kotal lock-up where they would be interrogated by a team of investigators after which they would be allowed to go home, the officials said.

Two of them had lost their senses, they added. Authorities said the prisoners were kept in different jails of Afghanistan and were recently shifted to Pul-i-Charkhi. They were arrested on charges of espionage and entering Afghanistan without legal travel documents, the officials said.

They insisted that most of them were labourers and had gone to Afghanistan in search of employment.

The released men were identified as Siyar Khan, Murad Khan, Said Wali and Hidayat of Peshawar, Abdul Halim, Niaz Ali and Hazrat Ali of Nowshera, Jamal Khan of Mardan, Muhammad Nazim of Multan, Muhammad Amjad of Rawalpindi and Iqbal Khan of Bara, Khyber Agency.Arms recovered: The Khasadar force in Landi Kotal seized nine pistols of US-origin from a car at Enzari checkpost on Wednesday. Driver of the car Awal Khan and his accomplices Rihmatullah, Umat Wali and Zar Ali were arrested.

Tanker blast: An empty oil tanker parked outside the customs offices on the Afghan side of the Torkhum border was slightly damaged in a bomb explosion on Wednesday.

The vehicle was immediately removed by the Afghan police from the site.