QUETTA, March 31: The Pakistan Customs burnt over 22 metric tonnes of drugs, including heroin and hashish, in Ghaza Band area here on Wednesday.

Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz torched the drugs in a ceremony which also attended by Balochistan Frontier Corps Inspector-General Major-General Sadaqat Hussain Shah, Customs Collector Munir Qureshi, Anti-Narcotics Force officials and a large number of other people.

The drugs that included 3.28 tonnes of heroin, 18.4 tonnes of hashish and 0.23 tonne of morphine worth around $400 million had been seized by the customs staff during the last one year in raids conducted in different areas of the province.

The finance minister, speaking on the occasion, said the government was taking all possible steps to rid the country of the illegal drug business. He warned that in Afghanistan poppy cultivation had been increased by manifolds and Afghan drug barons were using Pakistan as a transit route.

Pakistan had decided to take strict action against drug smugglers who were using Balochistan as a transit route to send their drugs to European countries through sea, he said and added that the government had decided to install X-ray machines at Port Qasim, Torkham and Chaman to check goods being imported by Afghan traders.

Arms seized: A large amount of illegal arms and ammunition that was dumped underground was seized on Wednesday during a raid conducted near Kakar Khurasan in Qila Saifullah district near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, police officials said.

They said that the consignment of arms and ammunition that had been dumped underground had been brought over from Afghanistan, adding that these arms were meant to be used in sabotage activities. No arrest was reported in this connection.

The seizure include 43 rocket shells 43, one rocket launcher, 90 mortar shells, four plain grenades, two M-36 hand grenades, 65 impact grenade fuses, 14 primers, three rockets, 38 incendiary shells, two hand grenade detonators, 1,836 cartridges of anti- aircraft guns, and seven timers.

Later, Balochistan Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani, Chief Minister Jam Mir Mohammad Yousuf and provincial Home Minister Mir Shoaib Nausherwani visited central police office and inspected the recovered arms.