PESHAWAR, June 11: In a major drug haul, the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) on Wednesday seized 2,283kg of hashish from a Karachi-bound oil tanker, officials said.

An ANF team intercepted the tanker in the highway town of Lachi, 60km south of Peshawar, ANF Director Rehamt Khan told reporters.

He said the drugs were apparently smuggled into the country from Afghanistan concealed in specially made cavities in the tanker.

“It was the biggest seizure of hashish this year,” Mr Khan said, adding that the driver of the vehicle had been arrested.

He said it was a fine quality hashish, worth millions of dollars abroad, which was meant for European drug markets.

Pakistan has been used as one of the routes for trafficking drugs.

The army-led ANF in August 2001 seized five tons of hashish after a gunbattle near the Iranian border in which three drug smugglers were shot dead, the officials said.

In May last year an ANF team seized one ton of Afghan hashish after a clash with drug smugglers in Balochistan, they said. —AFP