Drug smuggling scheme unearthed at Lahore airport

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LAHORE:

A company responsible for handling ground services at Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport has been accused of running a sophisticated drug-smuggling operation by swapping passengers' luggage, it emerged on Monday.

The scandal came to light after British national Umair, originally from Faisalabad, travelled from Lahore to Riyadh on a Saudi airline flight on December 16, 2024. Upon reaching London, he discovered his original bag was missing.

Shortly thereafter, London Airport authorities recovered five kilograms of drugs from a bag bearing a counterfeit tag in Umair's name, and he was promptly arrested in connection with the drug-smuggling case.

During questioning, Umair maintained that he had no connection with the bag. Acting on a request from his lawyer, the conducted an internal review of the bag-handling footage.

The footage clearly revealed that Umair's bag had been swapped by the company's staff with another bag stuffed with drugs and marked with a fraudulent tag, which was then sent abroad.

After evidence cleared him of any wrongdoing, the London court accepted Umair's bail.

The recent incident is not isolated. Earlier, the company's staff were implicated in a similar scheme involving four passengers travelling to Jeddah, where their bags were switched to send drugs to Saudi Arabia.

Saudi authorities had initially announced the arrest of four Pakistanis in connection with the Jeddah drug case. However, the federal government intervened, informing the Saudi officials about the situation and ensuring that innocent Pakistanis were not wrongly detained.