ISLAMABAD, June 14: Owners of ginger treatment plants went underground as the local administration conducted raids in various areas, looking for acid-treated ginger, an official source told Dawn on Wednesday.

The local administration imposed a ban on the soaking of ginger in acid and sale of the treated root spice.

No owner of the treatment plant had been traced till Wednesday evening.

The source said the owners of the plants in Islamabad had moved their business from the fruit and vegetables market in the capital to slums in Rawalpindi.

“We conducted surprise raids in the market to arrest the owners of ginger processing plants but the plants had been closed before we reached there,” the Deputy Commissioner of Islamabad, Chaudhry Mohammad Ali said.

He said the district coordination officer of Rawalpindi had been informed that people involved in ginger processing had resumed the work in Rawalpindi and now the administrations of the twin cities should evolve a joint plan to curb the menace.

The official said the ban on acid treatment and sale of the dangerous ginger would continue for two months.

He said in the first phase of the campaign, the administration would enforce the ban on treatment and sale, and in the second phase people involved in the dangerous trade would be brought to book.