ATTOCK, March 31: The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) personnel on Friday arrested two alleged drug smugglers after an encounter near Mullah Mansoor toll plaza on G.T. Road.

ANF Assistant Director Mubarik Ali Khan said a suspicious car (IDL-9320) was signalled to stop at a checkpoint near the toll plaza but the driver sped away.

The ANF personnel chased the car on which the two persons started firing on them.

The ANF personnel in response opened fire, burst the car’s tyres. During the exchange of fire the two perosn sustained injuries.

In the meantime, the accused doused the vehicle with petrol and set it on fire in a bid to destroy the contraband, but the ANF team extinguished the fire with the help of highway police and local people.

Both the injured smugglers — Mohammad Gul and Abdul Rehman — were arrested and taken to the District Headquarters (DHQ) hospital, Attock. Later, one of the accused was shifted to the DHQ hospital Rawalpindi in critical condition.

During search, the ANF officials recovered 107kg Hashish and 8kg opium, a 30-bore pistol, nine bullets and two magazines from the vehicle.

APP ADDS: ANF Joint Director Lt-Col Wasif Sajjad said the force, during the recent days, had achieved great success by arresting a financier of a gang involved in smuggling drugs to China by using capsules.

He said an ANF team had arrested two drug pushers, Munir and Asif, at Islamabad airport from a China-bound flight and retrieved 166 heroin filled capsules which they were carrying in their stomach.

During interrogation, they revealed that a person, Mian Iqbal, and his influential companions had been sending boys from different parts of Pakistan to China by making them swallow drug- filled capsules. They would pay Rs500 for each capsule.