KOHAT, June 23: The Kohat police recovered a kidnapped man and claimed to have busted an inter-provincial gang of drug smugglers in two separate operations on Wednesday.

Assistant Superintendent of Police, Saddar, Mohammad Jaffer, told newsmen that upon receiving a report that a man Masir Mehmood had been kidnapped from the Wildlife Park and taken to the mountainous area of Tanda Dam, a police team raided the area and cordoned it off.

Sensing danger, the kidnappers dumped Nasir Mahmood at an isolated place south of the dam and fled. The ASP said that several teams had been constituted which were combing the area to arrest the kidnappers.

He claimed that the mastermind of the kidnapping had been identified and a case had been registered against him. He said that the kidnappers would be arrested soon. Speaking at a press conference, SSP Kohat Dr Ishtiaq Marwat said that police received information that an attempt would be made to smuggle heroin from the tribal areas to Punjab via Kohat.

Consequently, a team comprising the SHO of Shakardarra police station and other staff started checking vehicles at the Gur Guru Kandao checkpoint at the Kohat-Mianwali border.

During checking the team recovered 126kg of high quality charas hidden in the secret cavities of a truck (LSA-1244). The smugglers who were members of an inter-provincial gang, were also arrested. Their names are Mohammad Fayyaz and Omar Hayat, residents of district Darya Khan. A case has been registered against them.

In a similar case, the KDA checkpoint staff recovered 16kg of charas from a Suzuki pick-up and arrested two smugglers on Wednesday. The smugglers, identified as Gul Zaman, resident of Mattani, Peshawar, and an Afghan refugee Aimal, were each carrying 8kg of charas.