ISLAMABAD, July 20: The government on Sunday took serious notice of continued smuggling of petrol and diesel to Afghanistan and Iran and misuse of short message service (SMS) to manipulate stock markets.

According to an official announcement, the ministry of interior has asked chief secretaries of the provinces, inspectors-general of Balochistan and the NWFP police and Frontier Corps officers to take effective measures to curb the smuggling of petroleum products.

The government acted on reports that petrol exported from Pakistan to Afghanistan was being brought back into the country, causing a huge loss to the national exchequer.

The sources said the government had recently issued permits to Pakistani and Afghan traders to export petrol to Afghanistan, where it is tax-free.

Afghanistan usually purchases petrol from Iran and other Central Asian states to meet its domestic needs, while US-led coalition forces stationed in Afghanistan buy petrol from Pakistan.

The quality of Pakistani petrol is reported to be better than the oil Afghanistan gets from Iran and other countries.

Sources said that security personnel deployed on the Pakistan border with Afghanistan and Iran were involved in the smuggling of Iranian petroleum products.

After being refined here, the petrol smuggled from Iran is sent back to that country through illegal means because the quality of Iranian oil is not good for vehicles and machines.

The smuggled petroleum products have also made inroads into the NWFP and Punjab too.

In a separate move, the government announced it would consider manipulation of stock exchange markets through SMS as a cyber-crime to be handled by the Federal Investigation Agency.

The FIA has been asked to take immediate action to curb the crime.