NOWSHERA, Jan 5: The Attock police have again set up a checkpoint and started checking vehicles entering Punjab from the NWFP through the Khairabad bridge on Grand Trunk Road after the provincial government in Lahore ordered action against smuggling, sources said.

The checkpoint was closed in 1995 after the National Assembly, Senate and the NWFP Assembly passed resolutions to rid the people of the ordeal they suffered at the hands of the police officials posted there.

Vehicles in long queues used to be stopped for long durations and there were complaints that the officials struck bargains with the smugglers. The flow of drugs and weapons, however, continued in alleged connivance with the law enforcement machinery.

The police claim that large-scale smuggling of narcotics, weapons  and foreign goods was taking place on the route in the absence of the checkpoint.

Sources said that on Sunday officials at the checkpoint arrested five people, Zulfiqar, Sain Akhtar, Mohammad Riaz, Pervez Akhtar and Shahzad, and seized 10kg of charas.