PESHAWAR: The district administration and the food department arrested two persons and seized 6,500 sugar bags dumped in eight containers during a raid near Qamar Deen Garhi area on the Ring Road here on Sunday.

“We had a tip-off that the hoarders had stored some 6,500 sugar bags, around 325,000 kilogrammes, in eight containers. We arrested two persons from the spot and seized the containers,” a senior official of the district administration said.

He said cases were registered against the two persons.

“When the raiding party reached there, sugar bags were being shifted from one container to another,” assistant commissioner Rao Hashim told Dawn, adding the containers were seized and two persons were arrested from the spot.

He said it was yet to be known whether the sugar bags were being smuggled to Afghanistan.

A statement later issued by the district administration said the containers were seized during an ongoing crackdown on hoarding and profiteering.

It said the district administration raided various cold storages/godowns in the district, adding during inspection around 6,500 bags of sugar weighing 50kg each were seized from containers parked alongside a godown on the Ring Road.

Two managers allegedly involved in hoarding of sugar were arrested on the spot, the statement said, quoting deputy commissioner Shah Fahad.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2023