ISLAMABAD, March 20: Customs authorities at Islamabad International airport on Wednesday, foiled an attempt of smuggle huge quantity of charas concealed in footballs, said the collector customs, Mehmood Alam.

He disclosed that charas was recovered when the customs staff started examining a consignment of footballs which were being exported to Canada through a customs clearing agent (Hi- Speed Cargo Service).

The customs staff led by Additional Collector Customs Imtiaz Ahmed Khan recovered 1,007kilo of charas from 40 cartons when the consignment was checked.

The consignment was booked by Sorrama Enterprises, a Sialkot based company, the customs authorities said.

The customs clearing agent Manzoor who had been handling the consignment managed to escape from the spot when the cartons were being opened and the narcotics recovered, the authorities said.

The collector customs dismissed the impression that he was being influenced by the customs staff who had been reshuffled recently by the CBR.