MARDAN: The excise and taxation department officials on Wednesday claimed to have seized a big quantity of hashish, thus foiling a bid to smuggle the contraband to other parts of the country.

Director excise and taxation office, Mardan division, Fawad Iqbal told Dawn that acting on a tip-off, they recovered 31.2 kilogrammes of hashish from a car. He said the alleged drug smuggler, identified as Kaleem, hailed from Abbottabad district. He said the accused was being interrogated so as to trace his other accomplices involved in the illegal act.

Meanwhile, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Safety and Halal Food Authority on Wednesday seized 135 bags of banned Chinese salt from a store in Toro Chowk.

The operation was conducted under the supervision of the authority’s assistant director Alif Khan and food safety officer Massab Javed.

A total of 3,400 kilogrammes of Chinese salt was seized, which was being supplied to different restaurants and grocery shops.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan had banned trade of Chinese salt in March 2018.

Talking to mediapersons, food authority’s deputy director Kamran Khan said the district was earlier notorious for food adulteration like adulterated gur (jaggery), which was prepared from sugar and chemicals, counterfeit cold drinks of multinational brands, low quality juices, ice-creams and pops.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2023