LANDI KOTAL, Dec 31: Unidentified armed men put on fire at least 12 trucks, loaded with smuggled foreign goods, and abducted three drivers from Jabba area of Jamrud tehsil in Khyber Agency on Friday.

Official sources said on Saturday that scores of armed men hijacked 12 trucks loaded with electronic appliances, auto parts and tyres from Jabba area near Ali Masjid while on their way to Karkhano market in Peshawar. Later, the armed men torched all the vehicles and destroyed all the goods loaded on them.

The armed men also took away three drivers after putting the vehicles on fire and shifted them to an undisclosed location, officials said. Tribal carriers bring the smuggled goods from across the Afghan border into Bazaar Zakhakhel area via Tabbai hillock, bordering Nangrahar province of Afghanistan.

Security forces had few years ago sealed the route as it was generally believed that the Bara-based militant organisation Lashkar-i-Islam was the sole beneficiary of the money, collected at more than a dozen illegal checkpoints established by the group.

The LI activists used to charge Rs5,000 to Rs10,000 per vehicle on these checkpoints depending upon the quality of goods, supplied though the vehicles. The route was reopened in June this year after Zamhakhel tribal lashkar forced LI supporters to leave the area. Since then a considerable surge was witnessed in smuggling of various types of foreign goods via Ali Masjid-Peshawar route.

Although no one has so far claimed responsibility for burning the trucks and kidnapping the drivers yet officials believed that the incident could possibly be a result of rivalry between Zakhakhel tribe and LI. — Correspondent