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WEEKLY
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| Arms smuggling unchecked in Mardan |
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Wednesday, June 03, 2009
By Ikram Hoti
ISLAMABAD: A new and a possibly serious security crisis is in the making in the vicinity of the sprawling temporary dwellings of the IDPs in District Mardan where sophisticated weaponry is being bought and smuggled in from the AJK area through agents and carriers in Sakhakot and Shergarh located on the Swat-Mardan Highway.
The local police authorities have expressed complete ignorance about any such stockpiling of arms and ammunition. Syed Akhtar Ali Shah, DIG Police Mardan told The News that his men had over the past couple of months seized more than 100 Kalashnikov rifles and other ammunition from suspected miscreants associated with the Taliban “but none of the so-called sophisticated weaponry that threatens to turn Mardan district into an an arms conduit between the AJK and the lower Punjab”.
Contrary to the police stance, however, sellers on the Swat-Mardan Highway section make no secret of their dangerous activities. It’s easy to procure arms of all makes and nature. An M-16 gun is sold routinely for Rs 150,000-400,000 (short-butted) ones are expensive; sniper gun Rs120,000-150,000; 8mm gun for Rs70,000-80,000; Smith and Wesson pistol for Rs 35,000-40,000; Colt for Rs 40,000-50,000; Kalashnikov assault weapon for Rs 80,000-90,000; Chinese pistols 30-bore for Rs25,000-30,000; and even grenades and mines are available to an interested buyer.
During investigations by The News, it also came to light that these weapons are transported from Momand, Bajaur Swat, Dir and Buner areas into these parts, right under the nose of the Frontier Constabulary and the Levies while on the Pindi-Deena Highway but none of security agencies appear to be recognising it as a developing threat to the peace of the entire belt.
A senior retired Army official in Deena said “most of these weapons are transported by deliverymen through the cantonment on the Mirpur-Jatlan diversion leading up to the Mangla Dam. They are daredevil operatives and take advantage of the mounting chaos that is preventing the law-enforcers in up-country areas from attending to this trade and the lack of awareness in this part of the buyer-market on the part of security and law-enforcing agencies”.
According to one arms agent at the Shergarh-Sakhakot markets, “The sellers of sophisticated weapons come mostly from the criminal gangs having acquaintance with the shopkeepers and warehouse owners.”The DIG said they were in close contact with the government agencies to stop arms smuggling in the area.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
