PHOTO: AFP
ISLAMABAD: Senators on Tuesday urged the government to adopt strict laws and take punitive action against those smuggling drugs through national and international airlines, and asked the government to provide latest equipment to the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF).
The recommendations were made during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics held under the chairmanship of Senator Rehman Malik.
The agenda of the committee meeting was to discuss the recovery of narcotics from the Pakistan International Airlines flights.
During the meeting, ANF’s Brigadier Muhammad Basharat informed the committee of the actions taken by the force to control drug smuggling, after narcotics were found from PIA’s Boeing 777s at Heathrow, Karachi and Islamabad airports.
Airport checks: ANF nabs foreigners smuggling drugs
“The force has, so far, checked around 1,573 local and international flights for narcotics,” said the ANF official, adding that a gang of 17 was involved in the smuggling of these narcotics. He said 14 of the gang members had been arrested while one Afghan national and two Pakistanis were at large.
He said the gangs functioned in multiple tiers involving the planners, suppliers, coordinators, transporters and those who finally fix drugs in ducts and other sections of the airplane.
“Usually they use small packets of drugs and slowly fill up the hidden areas of the airplanes that are set to fly to different destinations,” he said, adding that one of the suspects arrested included an Information Technology staffer who used to track the planes.
The senators also deplored the action of the PIA and other agencies and questioned why no one from the higher management was ever held accountable.
“The arrests of janitorial staff and other low-ranking officials do not make any difference but chips will fall if you catch those who are the actual handlers and facilitators of these people,” said Senator Malik.
On the other hand, PML-N’s Senator Javed Abbasi said he had heard that one of the planes was to be used by the prime minister for some foreign trip. “What if narcotics were recovered while he was onboard!” he said.
Anti-narcotics drive: 700 operations conducted by ANF countrywide
Brigadier Basharat told the panel that it was not just the ANF’s responsibility to maintain such checks but it involved 32 agencies, working together despite being short-staffed. He also lamented lack of latest technology to detect such drugs.
Answering a question, he replied that they were reviewing different laws and working to recommend a single law to arrest and penalise those involved in drug smuggling. He also suggested that there should be coordination among all agencies.
Federal Minister for Narcotics Control Lt-Gen (retd) Salahuddin Tirmizi, when questioned, said it was virtually impossible to end the use of narcotics in educational institutes. He added that the number of drug users in educational institutes across the country had exceeded seven million.
“It is difficult for even us to curtail the rampant drugs usage and [smuggling] due to lack of facilities and shortage of staff,” he deplored, adding that most of the ministry’s offices were functioning in rented buildings.
Meanwhile, Senator Shibli Faraz walked out of the meeting in protest against the Superintendent of Police for ‘showing no progress’ over the robbery at the Islamabad residence of his late father and renowned poet, Ahmad Faraz.
The committee also sought complete details of the cooperative housing societies in Islamabad and how many of these societies have constructed illegal buildings.
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