PESHAWAR, Feb 2: The customs department foiled a bid to smuggle seven statues and arrested a Portuguese pilot at the airport here on Friday, sources said.

The Portuguese pilot of the PK-351, Captain UI Garcia Camar attempted to smuggle seven statues in his luggage on the Peshawar-Karachi flight, the sources said.

The government had hired planes from Portugal and PK-351 was one of them.

The statues had been dispatched to the Archaeology department for expert opinion and an FIR would be registered after examination by the quarters concerned, the sources added.

According to the preliminary investigation, the pilot had bought the statues at a five-star hotel in Peshawar to smuggle them to Portugal.