July 21, 2002	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 10,1423

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BAJAUR, July 20: Five timber traders of the Bajaur Agency returned to their homes on Friday after remaining in the custody of the Afghan government for three days in the Kunar province.

Malik Gul Zamin, Malik Khan Jan, Atta Khan, Jamal and Salahuddin had gone to Afghanistan to purchase timber. They were staying at the house of Maulvi Yaqoob, a Taliban sympathizer, in Asadabad when the authorities picked them up with their host. They were interrogated for three days before being set free, sources said.

Talking to Dawn, the traders said that the Kunar administration had caught them on the suspicion of having links with Al Qaeda and added that the Afghan officials had snatched Rs400,000 from them.

On Friday, they said, the Afghan officials set them free near the Ghaani Pass along the Pakistan-Afghan border.

They said that the timber worth millions of rupees purchased by the Pakistani traders in the Kunar province had been seized and the Afghan officials did not allow its transportation across the border without receiving illegal gratification.