Line of duty : 21 arrested, constable injured in Charsadda

Drugs seized from Sardaryab, Mohmand Agency

SHABQADAR: A police constable was injured and 21 suspects were arrested during a combing operation conducted in Tangi, Charsadda on Sunday. Two vehicles were also damaged during the raid.

Gul Shed Khan, an official of Tangi police, told The Express Tribune police conducted a combing operation along with Frontier Corps officials in the area bordering Mohmand and Charsadda.

Some suspects fired at police officials and Constable Riaz was hit by a bullet. The wounded officer was taken to Tehsil Headquarters Hospital Tangi and is in stable condition.



Two police vehicles were also damaged in the shooting. A large quantity of poppy, three Kalashnikovs, as many rifles, a pistol and hashish were confiscated from the suspects.

Meanwhile, the police have found 14 kilogrammes of poppy in a car in Sardaryab.

A police official told The Express Tribune, the driver of the vehicle was taken into custody. He was allegedly trying to smuggle the drugs to Punjab.

Charsadda police have conducted several combing operations in the district. A number of suspects, including Afghan refugees without valid documents, have been taken into custody.  The combing operations were especially conducted after an attack on a court complex in Shabqadar on March 7 and the attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda on January 20.

Separately, 45 kilogrammes of opium were seized in Mohmand Agency on Sunday. The area is known for poppy cultivation. Two Pakistani officials of the United States mission in Pakistan working with the FATA Development Project (Narcotics Affairs Section) were killed in the same area in February. They died when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2016.