RAWALPINDI: In a span of two hours, the Airport Security Force (ASF) on Sunday foiled four attempts to smuggle 34.7kg of heroin to Europe and Saudi Arabia from Islamabad. Four travellers were arrested at Benazir Bhutto International Airport.

According to ASF sources, the first seizure of drugs was made during a passenger security check carried out at the pedestrian entrance.

The source said two passengers on Shaheen Airlines flight to Riyadh were carrying luggage containing suspicious packages, spotted on the ASF scanner.

During a baggage search, ASF officials recovered 5.7kg of heroin from each of the passengers, who were identified as Ghulam Ali and Qasim Ali from Sargodha. Both suspects were later handed over to the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) for the registration of cases against them.

Another passenger, identified as Mohammad Saghir, was arrested when he was found behaving suspiciously during the passenger check-in for Qatar Airways flight to Doha. ASF officials seized 11.4kg of heroin during search of his luggage. He was supposed to fly to Austria via Doha.

Shortly afterwards, ASF officials also intercepted another passenger, Ashfaq Ali from Faisalabad, flying to Rome via Istanbul, on Turkish Airlines flight (TK-711). They recovered 12.5kg of heroin from his baggage, and handed the suspect over to ANF for the registration of a case against him.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2016