QUETTA: The Anti-Corruption Establishment of Balochistan has arrested a contractor and an officer of Forest and Wildlife Department of Balochistan for their alleged involvement in a Rs260 million corruption scam.

According to officials of ACE Balochistan, Maqbool-ul-Hassan Dashti, in his capacity as forest conservator (coastal management), was allegedly involved in the financial misappropriation during the fiscal year 2024–25 in various development projects. These projects included a mangrove research centre, afforestation, land levelling, nursery development, mangrove plantation, rest houses and other construction works.

Balochistan anti-graft watchdog conducts raids for ex-conservator’s arrest

The officials claimed that most of the projects, which were supposed to be executed by the Communication & Works (C&W) Department, were illegally carried out by the Forest & Wildlife Department itself.

These projects were either shown as completed on paper or were found on the ground to be substandard, poor in quality, or incomplete. Additionally, large sums of funds were allegedly embezzled through advance payments.

After completing the inquiry and obtaining approval from the competent authority, the deputy director of ACE (Kalat division) registered a case against Mr Dashti and contractor Mehtab Alam.

According to officials, Mr Dashti is absconding in the case and raids are being conducted for his arrest.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2026