October 18, 2008	Saturday	Shawwal 18, 1429

KARACHI, Oct 17: The Maritime Security Agency (MSA) and the Pakistan Customs in a joint operation arrested nine drug smugglers in a raid on a Yemen-bound boat and seized 2,000 kgs of hashish.

At a joint news conference on board the MSA ship, Nazim, near the Pakistan Naval Jetty on Friday, Commodore Afzal of the MSA and Collector Fateh Mohammad Sheikh of the Customs said the raid was conducted two days back on a tip-off.

Two tons of hashish were recovered from secret pockets of the boat’s fuel tanks, they said, adding that the nine-member gang of smugglers were arrested and the boat, along with the drugs, was impounded. They said that the contraband had been smuggled into Pakistan from Afghanistan by road and was stocked secretly somewhere in the coastal area for some days before it was loaded on the boat. The consignment was destined for some Gulf states, they said. The officials claimed that the smugglers intended to transfer the drugs to a ship.

The hashish was packed in one-kg packets and there were 99 bags consisting of 19-21 packets each, the newsmen who were shown the consignment said. The officials, however, neither presented the suspects before the newsmen nor did they disclose their names. “This might undermine our efforts to bust the smugglers’ network,” they argued when asked about the identity of the suspects. The suspects have, however, been booked under relevant laws.—PPI