Scuffle breaks out at Torkham border

Afghan forces engage in brawl with FC personnel as latter stop sugar smugglers


Our Correspondent August 06, 2023
Scuffle breaks out at Torkham border

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KHYBER:

 

A scuffle broke out between Afghan forces and FC personnel on the Torkham border as the latter tried to foil an attempt to smuggle sugar.

According to security sources, an FC official was injured in the skirmish and shifted to a hospital.

The sources said the dispute between Afghan forces and FC personnel occurred over the movement of local labourers.

The FC personnel stopped Afghan child labourers at the border crossing.

The sources added that the Afghan labourers were smuggling sugar.

When the FC personnel stopped them from crossing the border, the Afghan forces were enraged.

This caused a brawl between the two sides.

After the incident, the Torkham border crossing was temporarily closed for all traffic.

However, the border crossing was later reopened, resuming commercial activities.

Even those on foot were allowed to use the border crossing.

In April this year, the Customs Balochistan launched a crackdown against sugar smugglers and hoarders after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took notice of the artificial shortage and subsequent price hike.

In the open market, the sugar price jumped up from Rs95 per kg to Rs130 per kg suddenly back then.

This happened because of the massive smuggling of sugar to Afghanistan, traders and customers claimed.

Unverified videos of trucks loaded with sugar and fertilisers in Balochistan’s Kharan district made rounds on social media forcing the federal government to order a crackdown against sugar smugglers.

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