28 August 2004	Saturday	11 Rajab 1425

KARACHI, Aug 27: The Excise and Taxation Department (E&T) Sindh has recovered 168.5 kgs cannabis (charas) and arrested an accused during a raid on a house at 100 Quarter, Korangi.

This was stated by the Adviser to Sindh chief minister on Excise and Taxation, M.A. Jalil, while addressing a press conference at his office on Friday. He said that during the last six weeks a large quantity of narcotics including 1,504 bottles and 225 litres liquor, 15 kg heroine, 93 kg opium, 265.5 kg cannabis and 685 kg 'bhang' were recovered in various incidents throughout the province while a total of 29 accused were arrested by the E&T officials.

Giving details of the recent raid, M.A. Jalil said that the E&T officials conducted a raid on a tip-off on house No C-89, street 8, Korangi, 100 Quarters, recovered 168.5 kg cannabis and arrested an accused, Asghar s/o Muhammad Hussain.

Investigation into the case was under way and more arrests were expected soon, he added. He said the E&T's performance had improved and the amount of narcotics recovered by the department was more than those seized by the other four anti-narcotics agencies - Customs, Coast Guards, Anti-Narcotics Force and Police - in Sindh.

Speaking about the various seizure cases, he said the Excise officers of Karachi region had recovered 250 bottles and 180 litres of liquor, besides hundreds of empty bottles from a factory in Model Colony. Three accused were arrested in the incident.

He said that seven kg heroine and 10 kg opium were recovered on July 16, 2004, while 54 bottles liquor were recovered on August 5, 2004 from Karachi and an accused was arrested.

The adviser said that 1,200 bottles of liquor were recovered from a pick-up at a school in Karachi on August 7, 2004 and an accused was arrested. Two accused of the case including a former MPA Sindh and his wife were absconding.

On August 15, two accused were arrested and 11 kg cannabis were recovered from them, he further said. He said that Excise officers had recovered 600 kg 'bhang' from a truck and 64 kg cannabis from an oil tanker in Sukkur region and had arrested two accused.

A person was arrested on the Sindh-Punjab border and 40 kg 'bhang' were recovered, while a similar quantity of bhang was recovered from a car near Kot Deji in the Sukkur region.

He further informed that illegal weapons including five kalashnikovs, a repeater, a TT pistol, 300 rounds, seven various magazines were recovered on the Sukkur bypass and an accused was arrested. The adviser said that 15 accused were arrested in Hyderabad region in 16 cases. -PPI