LANDI KOTAL (Khyber Agency), Dec 11: The political administration of the Khyber Agency has banned opium trade in Bara bazaar and closed down about 100 shops dealing in the contraband.

The Bara opium market, one of the largest in the tribal areas, is also used by Afghan nationals.

An official of the political administration said that the orders were in line with the ban on cultivation of poppy in tribal areas.

The official said that the administration would mobilise all resources to curb anti-social activities in the area and added that the ban on carrying arms in the market was intact.

Opium traders said they had invested millions of rupees in the business and would move to some other place if the ban was was strictly imposed.

PROTEST: Students of the Government Degree College staged a protest demonstration here on Monday against excessive loadshedding in the area.

The students protesting in front of their college threatened to block the Peshawar-Torkham road if the Landi Kotal grid station superintendent was not transferred immediately. They alleged that the official had pulled a gun at the students when they tried to register a complaint at the grid station two days back.

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