SUKKUR, March 1: Police foiled a bid to smuggle 1,200 kg charas in a Frontier Constabulary van and arrested six smugglers after an encounter on the National Highway in the Dubbar area near here on Monday, said the Sukkur DPO.

The DPO, Ghulam Shabbir Shaikh, told journalists that the Dubber police also recovered three Kalashnikovs, two TT pistols, ammunition and the FC uniforms and badges from the FC van.

According to him, the FC van (PRS-8249-HQ) carrying six persons, two of them in FC uniform and occupying front seat, was going to Karachi from upcountry. It overtook a police mobile carrying ASI Qudoos Kalwar and others.

The high speed of the FC van aroused a suspicion among the police party which chased the vehicle and during the chase, the FC vehicle overturned near Kalar village.

The van occupants opened fire on the police party which returned it and called extra police force. An encounter between the two sides ensued which lasted for about two hours and finally, the police forced the smugglers to surrender,

The police arrested Abdul Wahab, son of Awal Khan; Subhanallah and Feroze, both sons of Dar Gul; Mohammad Rasool, son of Hazrat Mohammad; Ayub, son of Haya Khan; and driver Lal Zaman.

The police recovered the arms and ammunition from the FC vehicle and the charas, packed in the packets of one kilogramme each, from the spot where the van had overturned.

The police also recovered FC uniforms and badges. On interrogation, the accused claimed that a man, at a FC petrol pump in Peshawar, had handed over the vehicle and bags to them for transportation to Karachi.

They said that two of them were Afghan nationals and the remaining four, including the driver, were residents of Peshawar. The police have impounded the vehicle and are conducting an investigation.

Meanwhile, the excise police recovered some 60 kilogrammes of charas from a truck and arrested two people on the National Highway, near Kandiaro, on Sunday. A Karachi-bound truck (RB-1776) when reached near Kandiaro the excise police intercepted it and during the search they recovered charas.

The police arrested truck driver Fida Gul, son of Mir Ahmed, and cleaner Shahzad, son of Wazir. Meanwhile, the excise police recovered six bags of charas from a truck on the Ghotki bypass on Sunday and arrested two persons.

The excise police stopped the truck (GLD-2794) and during the search some six bags of charas were recovered. The police arrested truck driver Niaz Ahmed, son of Haider Ali, and cleaner Afsar, son of Khalid Dad.