GUJRANWALA, Jan 7: At least 6,000kg of poppy was seized by a customs anti-smuggling squad at a truck-stand here on Tuesday.
Sources said the raiding team had also arrested two drug-traffickers, whose leader, however, managed to escape.
Acting on a tip-off that the accused had smuggled poppy from Afghanistan which was to be supplied to various cities of the Punjab on trucks, the customs officials raided the truck-stand on GT Road and recovered as many as 150 bags, each of which contained 40kg of poppy.
Those arrested were identified as Ferzand Ali and Mohammad Tariq of Rajkot and the one who escaped as Khadim Hussain of Nomania Road.
A case has been registered against the accused.
During preliminary investigation, the arrested men allegedly confessed to smuggling poppy from Afghanistan and supplying it to various cities of Punjab.
DASKA BLAST ‘PROBE’: The Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) released their ‘inquiry report’ regarding the Daska church blast case and accused three Christians of carrying out the blast.
According to the report, office-bearers of JI and JUI visited Chianwali village and recorded statements of Muslims and Christians regarding the church blast.
It was claimed in the report that there was complete harmony among the Muslim and Christian villagers. The report alleged that a Christian, Ghacha Masih and his two associates Rehmat Masih and Boota Masih, were responsible for the blast as they had a tussle with the church administration over some issue. They were residents of Sitrah village, but were allegedly spotted in Chianwali just after the blast.
Meanwhile, JI district Amir Maulana Obaidul Rehman Madni, Punjab JUI Amir Maulana Feroz Khan, Muttahida Majlis Amal’s (MMA) MNA Maulana Qazi Hamid Ullah and MPA Maulana Ghulam Farid Hazarvi urged the government to form an independent ‘inquiry board’ and refrain from putting the blame on Muslims at the behest of the US and other world powers.
POWER THEFT: Four industrialists were caught stealing electricity here on Tuesday.
According to the report, Mohammad Khalid Rehmani and Mohammad Ashfaq of Hafizabad and Mohammad Hafeez and Nemat Ali of Peoples Colony had tempered with their metres to steal power.
Acting on a tip-off, the GEPCO regional surveillance team conducted raids and caught the alleged thieves, who were issued a Rs600,000 detection bill. The Gepco team severed their connections and got FIRs registered against them.
NEW PASSPORT OFFICE: The federal government has allocated Rs12 million for the new passport office.
This was announced by assistant director (immigration and passport) Shahid Iqbal. He said the new office would be constructed near the underpass on DC Road.
