Bid to smuggle foreign liquor foiled

Karachi

Customs officials on Monday foiled a bid to smuggle 8,400 bottles of foreign liquor worth more than Rs34 million from the western coast of Karachi.  

The staff of the Drug Enforcement Cell Headquarters of the Model Collectorate of Customs Preventive had received information that an attempt would be made to smuggle a huge quantity of foreign liquor via the Arabian Sea.

The customs staff were keeping a vigilant check in the area around Mubarak Village and Hawksbay in the West district of the city.

The customs staff observed two loaded trucks speeding from the Mubarak Village area with an escort of four motorcycles.

The trucks were signalled to stop but instead they picked up more speed and also tried to hit the vehicles of the customs department. The patrolling staff chased the trucks till Laal Bhakkar from where one of the roads is going towards RCD highway. They fired several warning shots in the air which ultimately compelled the truck drivers to pull up but the drivers fled with the motorcyclists escorting them, taking advantage of the darkness and rough terrain in the area.

Both the trucks were driven to the office of the Drug Enforcement Cell Headquarters situated at the NMB Wharf and were found laden with gunny bags with the cover of cardboard carton bundles. 

All the gunny bags, 355 in total, were off-loaded and were found to be filled with 8,413 bottles of foreign-origin liquor. 

Hashish found

Personnel of the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) Sindh in a raid in Gulistan-e-Jauhar seized a huge cache of hashish.

A spokesman for the ANF said its staff intercepted a Suzuki Alto Car (AWP-529) outside the Shamama Shopping Mall and found it to be carrying 17 kilograms of high-quality hashish being kept in secret cavities.

Two suspects were arrested while more raids are being conducted to apprehend the syndicate involved in the crime.