NOWSHERA, Nov 2: Dozens of passengers proceeding to Raiwind were injured here on Thursday when they clashed with smugglers trying to carry foreign cloth on the same bus to Lahore.

Ten injured were admitted to hospital. The main G.T. Road remained closed for all kinds of traffic four about one and a half hour.

The Nowshera police recovered 8,529 yards of smuggled cloth, 600 dozen foreign-made goods, 120 dozen electronic goods, 12kg white silk and 650 packets of printing ink from the bus and arrested 14 smugglers.

The police were informed that some passengers and smugglers had clashed over carrying of foreign goods on the bus (RPT-4866) near the railway crossing.

When the police reached the spot, the smugglers were beating the Raiwind-bound passengers with sticks and the bus was parked nearby.

The leader of the passengers, Ihsan Gul, told police that some 55 people who were going to attend annual congregation, had hired the bus for Rs22,000 in Peshawar. He said they left Peshawar at 9.15pm on Thursday.

When the bus reached Nowshera, the driver, Jehanzeb, stopped and started loading smuggled goods, he stated, adding that other members of the group objected to this that it would defame the Tablighee Jamaat and refused to travel in the bus.

Ihsan said when they refused to travel in the bus, the smugglers and the bus staff started abusing the Tablighee Jamaat and attacked them with sticks.

The police arrested the smugglers and the bus staff and started investigations.