April 10, 2007	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 21, 1428

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PESHAWAR, April 9: Police suspect the involvement of the drug mafia in the killing of a South African national whose body was found in the fields on the outskirts of the city on Sunday, according to investigators.

A senior official said the federal government had received a letter from the relatives of Kenneth Ascot Andrew Smith about two months ago, which suggested his link with drug traffickers. He said the letter was sent by Smith’s grandmother.

He said the intelligence agency had conducted investigations in this regard and the possibility of drug traffickers’ involvement in the mysterious death of the South African could not be ruled out. “We suspect that the (South) African had connections with drug traffickers,” the official said, adding that police was waiting for the post-mortem report.

He said that Mr Smith was a regular visitor and he had visited the provincial capital before. His body had been wrapped in a sack and thrown in a field in the Babu Garhi locality of the city.

Police said the South African, who had a multiple-entry visa, arrived in Peshawar on January 22 and informed local authorities that he had booked a room in the City Hotel. Officials said the hotel had been closed down three years ago.

An official of the Khyber Medical College told Dawn that samples had been obtained for toxicological and histopathology examination and the report would be completed within 20 days.