PESHAWAR: Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation (I&I) foiled bid to smuggle narcotics worth Rs267 million with carrier vehicle in worth of Rs267 million.
Talking with Customs Today, Director Customs I&I Rashid Habib said that Director-General Zahid Kokhar received information that huge quantity of narcotics via Peshawar Motorway would be smuggled through Toyota Land Cruiser bearing registration no: LWD-0067 carrying narcotics from tribal area towards Punjab and then it will smuggled abroad.
Pursuing the said information the Additional Director I&I Peshawar Syed Fazal Bokhari formed a squad led by Deputy Director Shaheen Arjumand along with the Assistant Director Mumtaz, Mubeen Akhtar Superintendent, Muhammad Shahzad and Ishfaq Ahmad Sepoys and Jhangeer driver.
The squad made naka bandi at Motorway Toll Plaza Peshawar, the vehicle was spotted from Peshawar side and it was signaled to stop but the driver of the vehicle ignored the signal and opened fired on the squad as well as Customs I&I squad responded with gun fires in mean time the driver of the vehicle escaped from the scene after parked the vehicle on the road side.
The vehicle was searched on the spot by the staff of drug cell of I&I found huge quantity of narcotics in the vehicle but having no suitable arrangements of security and for weight, the squad bring the vehicle into the I&I office Peshawar, where through search led to the recovery of foreign origin 182 kilograms of chars and 69 kg foreign origin Hafnium which was seized along with carrier vehicle.
The estimated value of the aforementioned seized narcotics and vehicle is around Rs.267 million (chars Rs182 million, Hafnium Rs82.8 million and carrier vehicle Rs3 million).
FIR has been lodged against unknown carrier of narcotics while further investigation is underway by the staff of I&I Peshawar.