SAHIWAL: Ghalla Mandi police registered a case on Sunday against the managements of two flour mills, reportedly owned by PML-N MPA Malik Arshad, allegedly over smuggling of subsidised wheat worth over Rs10 million, loaded on three trucks, to a Sheikhupura mills.

Reports say that taking notice of the smuggling, Deputy Commissioner Sami Uullah Farooq suspended the licences of both mills.

According to District Food Controller Asif Imran Mirza received information that subsidised wheat from two local flour mills -- Baba Farid Flour Mills and Baba Farid Food Industries-- was being smuggled to Sheikhupura and sold in the black market.

Acting on the information, a team led by Mr Mirza and Assistant Food Controller Saeed Ahmad Khan conducted a raid on three trucks on Qutab Shahana Bridge on the river Ravi and seized the vehicles having registration numbers 184-TAP, 1496-K, and 5194-JV, carrying 105 metric tons of subsidised wheat worth over Rs10m.

The wheat, part of the government’s subsidised quota for the two mills, was being smuggled through a broker, Yousaf, for National Flour Mills, Sheikhupura.

The department’s team nabbed the truck drivers and handed them over to police.

The police registered a case against the management of both flour mills on the complaint of AFC Saeed Ahmad Khan, under sections 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 of The Punjab Prevention of Speculation in Essential Commodities Act 2021 and 3/6 of the Foodstuff Control Act.

The investigation is underway.

The DC directed Deputy Director Food Sardar Amanullah Somroo to closely monitor all flour mills in the district to check wheat smuggling.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2026