August 29, 2003	Friday	Jumadi-us-Sani 30, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 28: The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) has seized over 1.6 tons hashish from a truck painted as an army vehicle near Kohat.

The joint director of the ANF special investigation cell said here on Thursday that the drug, packed in 80 bags, was seized on Tuesday from a Hino truck which turned out to be painted as a fake army vehicle.

A case has been registered against the culprits.

Sources in the ANF said the two accused arrested in the raid, Qazi Mohammad Quraish and Mohammad Jamil, were also dressed in army uniforms and each carrying a loaded 8mm rifle commonly carried by the army jawans. They did not try to use the weapons. The ANF official said it was the second such attempt in which a fake army vehicle was used for smuggling narcotics.

“Last year as well six tons of hashish was seized from a fake military vehicle,” the official said.

Giving the details of the operation, the official said there was credible information that some smugglers would try to smuggle a huge quantity of drugs from FATA to Punjab in a fake military vehicle with armed men on board.

“A high alert was raised and after waiting for many days the said vehicle was spotted on Kohat Road on Tuesday at around 12.30pm When signalled to stop, the driver tried to evade and speed away following which the vehicle was forcibly stopped after a chase,” the ANF official said.