Quetta drug haul: Customs seize 456kg heroin, 27kg opium

Customs personnel seize around 456 kilogrammes of heroin and 27 kilogrammes of opium

QUETTA: Customs officials in Quetta have seized a huge quantity of heroin and opium hidden in a truck near Baleli checkpoint on Saturday. The customs officials have arrested two suspects after recovery of illicit drug. Customs personnel seized around 456 kilogrammes of heroin and 27 kilogrammes of opium. The drugs are worth over Rs5 billion in the international market, Collector Customs Zahoor Akhtar Raja said. The drugs were found from the truck that was coming from Wana in North Waziristan to Makran coastal area, he told the media. The assistant collector customs preventive Hamid Qambrani headed the team which carried out successful operation. Balochistan shares borders with Iran and Afghanistan. Around 90% of the global production of poppy is gown in Afghanistan and traffickers use Balochistan as transit route to access international market.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 21^st, 2014.