RAWALPINDI: Seven more members of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) staff, including the catering manger and a PIA security official were called in by the investigating team on Wednesday in connection with the matter of the recovery of heroin from a London-bound flight at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIA) on Monday.

Five of the seven staff members who were investigated the day before were also called again.

Hundreds of passengers travelling on PIA’s flights to the UK on Wednesday had to face long delays as the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF), Airport Security Force, PIA vigilance and customs at BBIA and the Quaid-i-Azam Airport searched planes.

In the two days since the drugs were found, the ANF and a special team headed by the additional inspector general Punjab police were unable to find a clue as to who is involved in the trafficking of drugs on the national flag carrier and the circumstances in which the drugs were taken onto the aircraft and concealed.

Members of the special team visited the apron and BBIA’s Bay 9 where the PIA flight PK-785 for London was parked on Monday and from which a significant quantity of heroin was recovered during a search.

The investigating officer also visited the gammon gate which is used by PIA catering vans.

Seven PIA staff members from the catering department, who were called in by the ANF for investigation were allowed to home and seven more, including two officers from the PIA Security Wing, were investigated on Wednesday.

According to a source, PIA’s catering manager was also interviewed on Wednesday and is reported to have told the investigating officer that standard operating procedures for keeping a check on the catering service were not followed and that none of the concerned officials were even deployed in the flight kitchen or to keep a check on the catering vans when they entered the airport premises via the gammon gate.

As part of measures taken by concerned authorities to ensure no drugs are smuggled out of the country, the three PIA flights to the UK- two of which were from Islamabad to Manchester and London and the third from Karachi to London- were delayed for more than three hours as the planes were searched.

A PIA spokesperson said the searching of planes will be streamlined and the delays will be minimised soon.

He also said the PIA management had started putting a red seal on certain parts of aircrafts where there is a possibility of concealing drugs.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2017