Drug trade: Why one can’t ‘just say no’

Uncle killed, nephew injured for trying to quit drug trade.


Express July 17, 2011

FAISALABAD:


A young man was killed and his nephew sustained serious injuries when they refused to continue peddling drugs in Faisalabad.


According to police officials, Chak No 141GB residents Shakeel and his family were notorious for drug trafficking in the Sammundri area. Two of the family members Muhammad Khan and his nephew Niaz Ahmed approached police officials two weeks ago and said that they were trying to quit the trade. The two men were willing to give police officials details about how the other dealers in the district operated.

City Sammundri Police inspector Arif Chattha said that Khan and Ahmed had been trying to quit the family business for several years but their lives had been under threat. “Khan repeatedly told us that he needed to settle terms with his family but we tried to get him to stay under police protection,” Chattha said.

Police officials said that both men insisted they needed to return to their family and try  convincing them to let them quit dealing. “We were against them returning because they had already given us enough information to get them in trouble but they still left,” said inspector Bashir.

On Sunday,  when the two men told the family that they wanted to leave the district and give up the business Nadeem Khan and Shahzaf shot them. Khan received serious injuries and died on the spot, while Niaz Ahmed was rushed to Allied Hospital. Doctors have said that Ahmed is in critical condition and is unlikely to survive.

Police officials have registered a case against six people but have failed to make any arrest so far. “We received information that the family not only sells heroin, charas and liquor but has also been caught selling crystal meth to several people in the area,” Chattha said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18th, 2011.

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