QUETTA, May 6: The Customs officials on Tuesday seized 1350 kg of heroin after heavy exchange of fire with smugglers in Koh-i-Sulaiman area of the Chaghai district, some 200 kilometres west of this provincial capital.

“It is the biggest seizure of heroin in Pakistan,” Quetta Collector of Customs Munir Qureshi told Dawn.

“The value of the seized heroin is $500 million in the international market,” he said, adding that the consignment had been brought from Afghanistan for its onward smuggling to European countries.

The Custom officials, headed by a senior officer, raided the hilly area of Sulaiman range in the Chaghai district on Monday night on a secret information. The armed smugglers opened fire on the Customs team.

The Customs staff also took position and returned the fire. The exchange of fire continued for about half-an-hour after which the smugglers fled from the scene taking advantage of darkness.

During the search of the area, the Customs personnel seized 1350 kg of heroin dumped in a cave of the Sulaiman range.

Despite the deployment of Afghan and US troops on the border areas of Afghanistan, massive smuggling of drugs was continuing from Afghanistan to Pakistan for its onward journey to European countries.

According to officials of the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF), Balochistan, Afghan provinces Hilmand, Zabul and Kandahar were famous for poppy cultivation and manufacturing of drugs.