More than 300 pounds of a bomb-making chemical was discovered disguised as baby powder, Afghan officials said.
The country's intelligence agency said the large quantity of potassium chlorate — a key component in bomb making — was hidden in 384 cans of baby powder that had been shipped from Pakistan and seized from a commercial district in Kabul.
"The material was to be used in terrorist activities in Kabul, but was seized before it was delivered,” the National Directorate of Security [NDS] said in a statement. Video of the cache released by the NDS showed dozens of pink, blue and green bottles filled with the white powder.
Minister of the Interior Noru-i-Haq Ulomi said that the government lacks the equipment to scans the dozens of trucks coming from Pakistan into Afghanistan every day.
“Inevitably terrorists exploit that weakness,” he told a press conference Sunday after the haul was announced.
