TIMERGARA, Sept 11: Smuggling of dairy products to Afghanistan from Dir and other districts of the NWFP has caused shortage of these products in the local market.

Sources said that an influential group of Afghan traders and refugees were involved in the smuggling.

With its network in various cities of the province, sources added, members of the group purchased fresh supply of dairy products from the local market and smuggled it to Afghanistan through a number of unfrequented routes.

They claimed that the smugglers picked the fresh supply of dairy products from the local market on high prices and sold it at even more expensive rates in Afghanistan.

The smuggling came into notice when consumers began facing shortage of the products in the market. Information collected from various sources revealed that dairy products disappeared soon after these were supplied to the retailers.