April 13, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 6, 1429

LANDI KOTAL, April 12: Hundreds of armed Kukikhel tribesmen stormed the Wazir Dhand market on Saturday and seized huge quantity of alcohol, heroin, hashish and other contraband.

The action was taken after a jirga of Kukikhel elders decided to close down shops dealing in all sorts of contraband in the Wazir Dhand locality. Armed tribesmen broke the locks of several shops to take out bottles and cans of liquor and packets of hashish and heroin. They smashed the liquor bottles and burnt other contraband

The shopkeepers present on the occasion offered no resistance. A tribal elder Haji Shamshad announced on the occasion that those involved in the illegal trade in future would be heavily fined and their shops would be sealed permanently.

He said that vigilant committee would be formed on Sunday to keep an eye on Wazir Dhand market shopkeepers and prevent them from selling any type of contrabands.

Meanwhile, situation in Jamrud sub-division remained tense on Saturday after the Wednesday night forcible take over of a mosque in the Shah Kas locality by the armed activists of Lashkar-i-Islam. The Lashkar amir Mangal Bagh had threatened to extant his activities by force if residents of Jamrud didn’t provide him safe passage to other localities.

In his Friday night sermon on his illegal FM radio station in Bara, Mangal Bagh accused certain Kukikhel elders of patronising illegal trade of contrabands, harbouring criminals and extorting money from public transporters in Wazir Dhand area.

Majority of the residents of the area believed that Saturday morning action against Wazir Dhand market shopkeepers was aimed at pre-empting possible Lashkar-i-Islam attack on the said market.

A Kukikhel elder Haji Saleem however dispelled the impression and insisted that the decision to cleanse the area of outlaws and illegal business was taken by the area elders after the local administration failed to control the unlawful activities in Wazir Dhand.

It was also learnt that the Kukikhel elders would meet in Jamrud on Sunday to sort out their future line of action vis-a-vis the Lashkar-i-Islam threat to forcibly enter Jamrud and implement its 28-point agenda.