Asia

Pakistan police seize huge weapons cache from Karachi house

Associated Press
Published | Updated

A Pakistani police commando stands beside the display of huge quantity of arms and ammunitions, which they said were seized during a raid on an abandoned house in Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016. Police seized a huge cache of arms and ammunitions, including anti-aircraft guns, sub-machine guns, light machine guns, rifles and rocket launchers during a raid in an abandoned house in the neighborhood of Pakistani port city Karachi, local media reported. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan) (The Associated Press)

Pakistani police officers gather around the display of huge quantity of arms and ammunitions, which they said were seized during a raid on an abandoned house in Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016. Police seized a huge cache of arms and ammunitions, including anti-aircraft guns, sub-machine guns, light machine guns, rifles and rocket launchers during a raid in an abandoned house in the neighborhood of Pakistani port city Karachi, local media reported. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan) (The Associated Press)

Pakistani police officers stand beside the display of arms and ammunitions, which they said were seized during a raid on an abandoned house in Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016. Police seized a huge cache of arms and ammunitions, including anti-aircraft guns, sub-machine guns, light machine guns, rifles and rocket launchers during a raid in an abandoned house in the neighborhood of Pakistani port city Karachi, local media reported. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan) (The Associated Press)

A senior Pakistani police official says officers have seized a large cache of assault rifles, grenades, guns and bomb-making material from a house in the southern port city of Karachi.

Police officer Mushtaq Mehar said Wednesday the weapons had been stored in the water tank of the abandoned house.

He says some of the weapons had originally been used by NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Mehar says the weapons cache was near the office of a party with links to London and South Africa, which he declined to name. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party fits the description. It has been blamed for several attacks and targeted killings in the city.

In recent months Pakistani security forces have detained a number MQM members over alleged links to multiple attacks in Karachi.