LAHORE, Oct 15: The Anti-Narcotics Force, Punjab, claimed on Wednesday to have seized 300kg hashish, and arrested an exporter at the Railway dry port, Mughalpura.

ANF commander Ishfaqur Rashid said at a press conference that the force had been working on an information for several months that a gang of peddlers of Peshawar had been smuggling goods to various countries through different dry ports.

He said the force had also alarmed the authorities at the dry ports to thoroughly check all the consignments, especially those coming from the NWFP.

On a tip-off, he said, a team of the ANF officials checked the containers of a consignment at the dry port on Tuesday and recovered the contraband packed in it. The contraband was packed in 40 electric geysers. The consignment was booked for Saudi Arabia.

The ANF arrested the exporter, Farid Ahmad Shah, who belongs to Peshawar. He told the ANF that he worked for Hamidullah Khan, an international drug peddler.

Mr Rashid said an ANF special team had gone to Peshawar to arrest Hamidullah. Besides Farid Shah, he said, two more persons were taken into custody for interrogation and more information was likely to be extracted about the network of drug pushers from them.

He said the seized consignment reached the dry port a month ago and the exporter was looking for a chance to export it with the help of the corrupt officials of the custom.

A representative of Saudi Arabia also visited the ANF and inquired about the suspect.

A mafia comprising officials of the customs, clearing agents and employees of the shipping corporations helps the drug pushers in sending contraband abroad.