April 06, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 28, 1429

KARACHI, April 5: The Excise and Taxation Department, Sindh, has seized 1.4 tons of hashish and arrested four suspects allegedly involved in the narcotics trade.

“The value of the seized narcotics is about Rs2 billion in the international market,” Mohammad Asif Marghoob Siddiqui, Director General of the E&T, Sindh, told a press conference here on Saturday. An FIR had been registered under the Control of Narcotics Substance Act, 1997, he said, adding that further investigations were underway.

Giving details, he said that the E&T (West) personnel were on surveillance when they spotted a truck loaded with bundles of cloth moving on Hub River Road. The vehicle was stopped for checking, during which 1,400-kg narcotics concealed in the bundles were recovered.

Caretaker provincial minister Dr Abdul Karim Mehar, has commended the department’s efforts and appreciated its officer Noor Hasan and Inspector Mohammad Ali Soomro.