PESHAWAR, June 26: In order to observe international day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking, the collectorate of customs set ablaze 2,898kgs of hashish, 60kgs of heroin and 12,413 ticks of fake cigarettes, here at Regi Lalma on Wednesday.

The NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah presided over the proceeding, while

a large number of senior officials, area elites heads of all the law enforcement agencies and other federal and provincial departments attended the ceremony.

“No, this is not the real hashish. It is 10 per cent hashish mixed with some dark substance,” said two Afghan men living in Kacha Ghari refugee camp.

“The original hashish moulds after heat and gives a strong smell,” they said while breaking the warm hashish in parts to stress that little hashish was mixed with other things, which was wrapped in polythene bags.

But the custom collectorate officials on the spot replied, “it is old hashish and that is why there is no smell.” Admitting the inferior quality of the burnt hashish, they said that ‘Garda’ was the best quality, which was not burnt today.

“We don’t know about the quality of hashish. All the narcotics were seized from the smugglers and is being burnt today,” said Aftab Haider, assistant collector of Peshawar Custom House.

A judicial magistrate checked the quality of narcotics and issued a no objection certificate (NOC) before setting the drugs afire, he said. He added that the all the narcotics and fake cigarettes were seized during the last five months.

The  international day against drug abuse  is observed every year on June 26 as an expression of determination to strengthen action and cooperation at all levels to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse.

Earlier, addressing the gathering, the NWFP governor highlighted the importance of the day and said the untold misery of millions of drug addicts, their families and associates portrayed a dismal and bleak transition of humanity into the 21st century.

Pakistan over the years had been hit hard by the menace where the number of drug addicts had reached close to the alarming level of four million, he said and added that the most painful aspect of this menace was that 43 per cent of the Pakistani addict population was between 16-20 years of age.

The governor stressed that drug abuse was not a problem of one country, one nation or one community, but of the whole world and the whole human race and the whole world was looking seriously at the problem and cooperating willingly in the efforts to eradicate that menace.

He claimed: “Today Pakistan is a poppy-free country, which is acknowledged by the United Nations.”