ANF nets drugs worth Rs180 million in 24-hour sweep across country

Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) while conducting five operations across the country managed to recover 76.5 kg drugs worth Rs 180 million and arrested five accused including an Afghan national, said an ANF Headquarters spokesman here on Tuesday.

He informed that during the last 24 hours, ANF conducted raids in different areas against drug dealers supplying drugs in educational institutions.

1200 grams of hashish was recovered from an accused rounded up near a private university in Rawalpindi.

In another raid, 20 kg hashish was recovered from the possession of an accused arrested near a major government educational institution in Quetta.

The arrested accused confessed to selling drugs to students of educational institutions, he informed.

He further said that 8 kg powder used for making intoxicated tablets was recovered from an Afghan resident rounded up near the Pak-Afghan border in Torkham.

Over 10 kg heroin was recovered from a vehicle intercepted near Jamshoro toll plaza and two accused were arrested during the operation.

More than 30 kg heroin hidden in an uninhabited area of Loralai for smuggling was recovered.

Cases under the Anti-Narcotics Act have been registered against the arrested accused and further investigations are under process.

In another case, the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) foiled an attempt to smuggle a large consignment of methamphetamine to Belgium and confiscated around 224 kilograms of the illegal substance.

The drugs were camouflaged as soapstones and were skillfully concealed within the roofs and walls of five shipping containers.

The containers were being smuggled from Karachi to Afghanistan via the Torkham border with Belgium as the final destination.

During an inspection, the ANF personnel discovered the narcotics cache and seized all the containers. The bust was made at Karachi port.

The authorities arrested three suspects including two Afghan nationals.

"The three suspects, two of whom are from Afghanistan, were arrested while trying to escape," said officials.

Last year, the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) arrested a nine-member inter-provincial gang involved in drug smuggling in a raid in Kot Momin and recovered more than one metric ton of drugs worth millions of rupees.

Four women are also among the accused.

According to the officials, the ANF team stopped three vehicles near Kot Momin for snap-checking, and a total of 703kg of hashish was recovered from the vehicles.

During the investigation, the accused disclosed the presence of drugs inside a house located in Kot Momin at which the ANF team raided the house, recovered 398kg of opium from the house and arrested four women.