QUETTA, Feb 11: Police have recovered a huge quantity of high-explosive material and arrested a suspect after an exchange of fire in the Western Bypass area on Friday.

"We have arrested a key suspect involved in terrorist activities in Quetta and elsewhere," Rafi Pervez Bhatti, the Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Quetta, told a news conference here.

He said the police raided a big house in the Western Bypass area in the early hours on a tip-off and arrested the accused after an exchange of fire. He has been identified as Hasan Marri, a former guard of the Marri House.

During a house search, he said, police recovered 120kg of high-explosive material, timers, detonators, batteries and other instruments used in bomb making. A badge of the Baloch People's Liberation Front (BPLF), pamphlets, photographs, and a cap and belt of the Frontier Corps were also recovered during the search, he added.

During initial interrogation, the accused has confessed to his involvement in bomb blasts and other terrorist activities, he said. "Police have collected useful information about the gang involved in subversive activities," he added.

"Other members of the gang would soon be nabbed," Mr Bhatti said. The explosive material recovered is Russian-made and had been used in Quetta blasts, he told a questioner. An accounts book detailing purchase of rockets, machine guns, rounds, motorcycles and other items for terrorist activities has also been found, he said.