RAWALPINDI: After nine days of investigation, three teams looking into an attempt to smuggle heroin on a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight from Islamabad to London have not been able to trace the drug traffickers, although searches of international flights for contraband have caused considerable delays to flight departures.

A total of 33 PIA staff members from the catering department were investigated by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) as part of the investigation, and a catering van driver and two other employees working in the flight kitchen’s pantry were called in by the ANF again on Tuesday, as the investigators were focusing more on the catering department than other aspects.

A week after a PIA flight from Islamabad to Heathrow was searched by British authorities on a suspicion that the flight was carrying heroin, a significant quantity of heroin was found in the pillows in London-bound flight PK-785 at Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIA) on May 22.

The first flight, which was searched by the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency at Heathrow Airport on May 15, was not searched by ANF’s sniffer dogs or customs before it took off for London. The May 22 flight, however, was searched by ANF personnel and sniffer dogs, the Airport Security Force (ASF) and PIA intelligence personnel.

According to a source, upon entering the plane, the ANF team walked straight towards the tail and opened the top kitchen cabinets, where the heroin-filled pillows were found.

A top-level meeting chaired by Additional Inspector General of Police (AIG) Hussain Asghar, was held at BBIA on Tuesday to review progress in the case. It was attended by ASF Chief Security Officer Brig Asif Ahmed Khan, ANF Director Brig Hammad Dogar and the director of PIA’s vigilance and security department.

During his visit to the airport, Mr Asghar also visited the flight kitchen, the route catering vans take to the airport and the gammon gate the vans use.

In addition to discussing progress in the case, 15 PIA staffers were called in for questioning by Mr Asghar on Wednesday, although the AIG was unable to learn anything that could lead to tracing those involved in drug trafficking.

The investigators later flew to Karachi to work on parking the aircraft at a larger hanger, which are only available in Lahore and Karachi.

The investigation was ordered by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Aviation Sardar Mehtab Abbasi, and a team led by AIG Asghar from the Punjab Police was constituted in this regard.

An ANF team is also investigating the case, while a departmental inquiry is being conducted by the ASF.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2017