ISLAMABAD: The capital police seized four kilogrammes of heroin worth Rs40 million which was being transported to Karachi from Peshawar and arrested its carrier on Tuesday.

SHO Ramna police Rukhsar Mehdi confirmed the arrest and the recovery of the heroin and said a case had been registered against the accused and further investigation was underway.

A senior police officer told Dawn on the condition of anonymity that some officials of the Lahore police had a tip-off about the transportation of the heroin from Peshawar to Karachi via Lahore. “They had all the travel details of the carrier, including the registration number of the passenger bus in which he was travelling and his seat number,” the officer added.

On Tuesday, the Lahore police officials received information from their informer that the smuggler had changed his route and instead of going to Lahore would now be travelling to Karachi from Islamabad. In response, they approached an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of the capital police and asked him to catch the carrier for the recovery of the drug.

“The ASI was asked by the officials of the Lahore police not to arrest the smuggler as it was part of the deal with the informer and only seize the consignment.”

The officer said it was agreed between the Lahore police officials and the ASI of the capital police that the recovery would be distributed among them equally.

The ASI approached the staff of a police picket in the jurisdiction of the Ramna police and sought their help to intercept the smuggler and recover the drug. However, one of the officials of the picket informed the station house officer of the Ramna police.

In response, a team was constituted which intercepted the bus before the picket at Project Mor, Kashmir Highway. When the police stopped the bus, one of the passengers disembarked from the vehicle and tried to run away. However, the police arrested him after a brief chase and recovered the narcotics, said the officer. Later, the arrested man along with the heroin was shifted to the police station.

During the interrogation, it was revealed that the smuggler used to transport narcotics for a man from Timargarah for the last many years. The owner of the drug had already reached Karachi to send the heroin abroad.

The officer said the arrested man offered to the police that he would disclose the names of scores of other drug transporters and their facilitators if he was released, but the police refused.

The officials from the Lahore police also tried to get him released, saying their informer would consider the arrest as a breach of trust and avoid helping the police in future. However, the Ramna police registered a case against the accused and refused to release him.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2015

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