Anti-narcotics drive: 700 operations conducted by ANF countrywide

DG ANF says 771 drug-traffickers held, 200 tons of narcotics seized between January and July 2017

ISLAMABAD: The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) has claimed to have arrested 771 drug-traffickers, seizing 200 tons of narcotics, precursor chemicals and psychotropic substances in nearly 700 operations in the country from January to July this year.

The narcotics seized included 31,598 kg opium, 26,564 kg heroin, 92,695 kg hashish, 55,444 kg precursor chemicals and about 2,000 kg synthetic drugs.

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“[The] ANF has surpassed all previous records of its successes,” ANF Director General Major-General Musarrat Nawaz Malik told Federal Minister for Narcotics Control Lt-General (retd) Syed Salahuddin Tirmizi during a briefing at the ANF headquarters in Rawalpindi on Thursday.

The ANF chief briefed the federal minister about ANF achievements and major challenges being faced by it. He told the minister that eight drug-trafficking gangs had been busted.

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The minister was also apprised of ANF’s initiative of conducting public awareness drives and community participation activities throughout Pakistan to reduce the use of drugs, apart from running rehabilitation centres, providing free-of-cost treatment to drug addicts.

“The over 2,600km-long Pak-Afghan border has become a major transit route for Afghan opiates and hashish,” said Malik, adding that for tackling such a situation, the ANF had enforced a very effective drug supply and demand reduction mechanism despite massive challenges and limited resources.

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The minister was also informed about the ANF’s organisational requirements – enhancement of manpower, development of infrastructure, acquisition of latest technology and establishment of more drug treatment centres in the country.

Appreciating the ANF’s achievements and its role in combating trafficking of illicit drugs at the national, regional and global levels, the minister assured his all-out support to the ANF DG in addressing the inadequacies of the force so that it could tackle the menace more vigorously.

Earlier, the federal minister laid a floral wreath on ANF Shuhada Monument and offered prayers for the ANF martyrs who laid their lives in the line of duty.