ISLAMABAD: An official of the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) was killed in an encounter with drug-traffickers.
An ANF team in Faisalabad was busy in checking vehicles near the Sial Mor Interchange on the Motorway when a double-cabin pick-up, bearing a blue emergency light, reached the spot.
The team signalled the vehicle to stop, but it sped away. The ANF men chased the vehicle and intercepted it again. Two persons travelling in the vehicle abandoned it and hid themselves in nearby sugarcane fields.
The in-charge immediately divided the team into two sub-groups, one for custody/ search of vehicle and the other for searching the fleeing men. When the team members reached near the hiding place, the drug-traffickers opened fire on them.
As a result, ANF Constable Muzaffar Iqbal was killed on-the-spot. Meanwhile, the team and local police cordoned off the entire area and arrested the accused. The team also recovered a pistol from their custody.
The team also recovered 109.2 kilograms of charas and 26.4-kg opium concealed in improvised cavities of the vehicle. The seized drugs have been evaluated at Rs296 million in international market.
Two separate cases were registered by District Police Station Saddar Pindi Bhattian, Faisalabad and ANF Police Station, Faisalabad.
The drug-traffickers were on their way from Peshawar to Lahore for delivery of drugs. The culprits also possessed fake government service identity cards.