Customs officials seize over 100kg of heroin at Torkham border

Truck driver taken into custody; custom officials say drugs worth over a billion rupees in international market

TORKHAM:

The Khyber-Torkham Border Customs officials seized more than 100kgs of heroin from a truck on Wednesday. The driver of the truck has also been taken into custody.

Customs officials said the value of drugs in the international market was over a billion rupees. The anti-drug operation was one of the few major ones that were carried out in the history of Torkham Customs.

“Customs personnel at the Torkham Import Terminal recovered more than 100kg of heroin from the hidden compartments of a truck, bearing registration number KBL-2652,” according to additional customs collector Torkham Muhammad Tayyab.

The empty container entered Pakistan from Afghanistan via Torkham after which the customs officials detained its driver, also impounding the vehicle.

In the last 15 days, customs authorities have seized drugs worth Rs1.73 billion at the Torkham border.

PHOTO: EXPRESS

Earlier, the Customs Department of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) foiled a bid to smuggle urea fertiliser worth millions of rupees to Afghanistan.

The customs officials confiscated the vehicle and the commodity that was being smuggled in potato sacks through Chaman and started an investigation.

Read: First consignment of aid dispatched to Afghanistan

According to a report sent by the Collectorate of Customs Appraisement Quetta to the FBR Head Quarters, the collectorate had seized urea fertiliser worth Rs7.2 million.

The officials took into possession 480 bags of the commodity and registered an FIR against the exporters and clearing agent.