HARIPUR, March 30: The local forest and police officials have seized four trucks full of timber, which was being smuggled to Punjab, officials said on Wednesday. They said that following a tip-off the forest officials in assistance with police stopped two trucks late on Tuesday night at the Farooqia checkpost and recovered from them 342 logs of costly timber. The same night the forest officials also seized two truckloads of high quality timber at the forest checkpost of Jhari Kas on Hassan Abdal Road.

The sources said that the total seized timber, with a market value of Rs2 million, included 685 logs measuring 574 feet.

The forest authorities also impounded the four trucks, including GLT-267, GLT-8823, GLT-2787 and GLT-625.

District Forest Officer Sher Hasan confirmed the seizure and said that the timber was being smuggled to Punjab. He said that the forest department had mobilised all its available resources against the smugglers.

He said that the Tarbela Lake route was constantly being monitored to check timber smuggling from upper Hazara.

FAMILY DISPUTE: A young man who was allegedly shot at by his father-in-law two days ago in Jolian village of Khanpur succumbed to his injuries in a hospital on Wednesday.

Khanpur police said that the motive behind the murder was a matrimonial dispute between the man, Tauqeer Safdar, and his wife. They said that following exchange of hot Safdar’s wife left for her parents’ house.

On Monday evening, Safdar went to his in-laws house for bringing his wife back where an altercation ensued between him and his father-in-law, who allegedly opened fire at him. Mr Safdar, who received serious bullet injuries, was reffered from Khanpur Hospital to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, where he died on Wednesday.

The police have arrested the accused Mohammad Sadiq, father-in-law of the deceased, and his relative Mohammad Nazeer.