VEHARI, Sept 1: Most of the people involved in the business of spurious pesticides have gone underground following the launch of a campaign against them by the district administration and the agriculture department.

An agriculture department team comprising Mailsi deputy district officer (agriculture) Zulfiqar Wahla, Vehari DDO Safdar Ali and district officer (agriculture) Rana Ahmad Muneer has detected a number of cases during the last few days and arrested some of the accused besides seizing a huge quantity of spurious pesticides.

On Aug 29, some people came to the Karampur area by a car (LWE-5713) to sell pesticides in the bottles of popular brands. Following information, the police conducted a raid and caught red-handed Maqsood Langrial, Bashir and Ashraf. One of their accomplices managed to escape.

The police also took into possession a huge quantity of spurious pesticides, packing material and a packing machine.

During investigation, Maqsood said he had brought the pesticides from Multan. On his identification, the police raided Chak 35-WB and Garah Mor and arrested Ansar Pervaiz, Maqsood and Maqbool with a huge quantity of spurious pesticides.

The Vehari police are going to conduct raids in Multan to arrest the main accused involved in this business. However, they have not disclosed his name.

Meanwhile, the relatives of the arrested dealers alleged that the police and the agriculture officials had made arrests because they had failed to pay them monthly in time. They alleged the business of spurious pesticides was being run throughout the district with the connivance of the agriculture officials. They further alleged that some officials were also involved in this business.

However, the agriculture officials denied the allegation, but at the same time they admitted that some influential people were pressing them for the release of the accused.

It is learnt that many dealers of spurious pesticides have gone underground to avoid arrest.

When contacted, DDO (agriculture) Safdar Ali said samples had been sent to Multan pesticides quality control laboratory.

Multan assistant director (quality control) Chaudhry Mohammad Ashraf also visited the various parts of the district, including Mailsi, and collected samples of pesticides for a laboratory check.