NOWSHERA, Aug 20: The customs intelligence, Peshawar, have accused NWFP Minister for Excise and Taxation Fazal-i-Rabbani of pressurising its personnel to release goods seized after a brief exchange of fire between security men and smugglers at Pabbai on Thursday.

Giving details of the encounter, superintendent of the customs intelligence Javed Khan told newsmen that they did not yield to the pressure exerted for the release of the confiscated goods.

"The minister asked for the release of the two smugglers and confiscated goods," said the customs official at a press conference he addressed after the seizure. The customs intelligence, Peshawar, foiled the bid to smuggle a huge quantity of non-duty paid cloth and other foreign goods on Thursday to Punjab from Nowshera.

Two smugglers were arrested after a brief exchange of fire and the vehicle carrying the consignment was also impounded. The law-enforcement personnel fired to burst tyres when the bus had crossed the barriers erected to stop vehicles for checking, the customs official said.

He said that in an attempt to flee, the driver of the speeding bus hit two officials who were trying to stop the vehicle. The official said Zia-ul-Rehman Farooqi, personal assistant to the Jamaat-i- Islami chief, who was proceeding to Islamabad from Peshawar, arrived at the place of the encounter and joined a group of protesters and blocked the Grand Trunk Road near Pabbi.

Later, said the customs official, the provincial minister arrived and tried to get the smugglers and confiscated items released.

Speaking to journalists, the minister took exception to the allegation and said the customs authorities had laid the siege on the GT road in the jurisdiction of the NWFP, though the federal government had held out assurance that the customs would not establish checkpoints on the main highway within the limits the Frontier province.