QUETTA: The local administration has seized 1,214 tonnes of sugar and sealed nine godowns in Sariab and Kuchlak areas where the commodity was kept for smuggling to Afghanistan, Quetta Divi­sion Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat said on Monday.

Speaking at a press conference along with Quetta Deputy Commissioner Saad Bin Asad on Monday, he said nine people were arrested for hoarding sugar.

He said the local administration raided the godowns on an Intelligence Bureau tip-off.

“We have supplied 600 tonnes of the seized sugar to dealers which brought down its price to Rs160 per kg in the provincial capital while further efforts were under way to reduce the price to Rs120 in the coming days,” Mr Shafqaat said.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2023