The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) carried out three operations on Tuesday in Islamabad, Peshawar, and Quetta, where they were successful in recovering 280 kg of drugs and apprehending six suspects, along with a woman.
111 kg of drugs, including 64.8 kg of Chars and 46.8 kg of opium, were found in a vehicle during an operation near the Motorway Toll Plaza in Islamabad, according to a spokesman for ANF Headquarters. Three suspects, Hamad, Qaiser, and a girl named Shumaila were also detained.
Another operation was carried out by ANF Peshawar near Gora Qabristan, G.T. Road Peshawar, and 108 kg of opium and 38.4 kg of charras were seized from a Kia Sportage vehicle.
Imran Ashraf, another suspect, was captured by the raiding group, and a gun was found in his hands. In the third operation, two motorcycle riders named Saifullah and Bismillah were in possession of 22 kg of charras when an ANF raid was conducted on Samungli Road in Quetta.
Pakistan customs department has seized illegal goods worth approximately Rs60 million in separate incidents over the past week, indicating that the campaign against the smuggling of contraband goods into and out of Pakistan is in full swing.
The Exports Collectorate prevented an attempt to smuggle a sizable amount of drugs into Australia. The Exports Examination-PICT team has made a drug seizure of 47 kilogrammes of ice. Officials reported that Fida Hussain, a suspect, was detained by Customs authorities after they registered a case, according to Express Tribune.
The Enforcement Collectorate Karachi team reportedly stopped two oil tankers close to the Mochko checkpoint and found 30,000 liters of Iranian diesel that had been smuggled. The seized tankers and smuggled diesel are estimated to be worth a total of Rs27.5 million.
Another incident involved a trailer truck that was loaded with urea and was headed for Karachi when it was illegally crossed into Balochistan by the Enforcement Karachi at the Mochko checkpoint.
Deputy Commissioner Keamari has received the truck and seized urea for further legal action. The truck hauling urea is estimated to be worth Rs29 million.
Hollywood veteran Johnny Depp has received an apology letter from Disney, requesting him to return to the Pirates Of The Caribbean.
Owing to the accusations made by actress Amber Heard, Johnny was ousted from Fantastic Beasts 3 and Pirates Of The Caribbean.
As per an Australian pop culture site Poptopic.com, Disney has now finally apologized to Depp. They reportedly made a heartening gesture and even offered him a whopping $301 million to return as the iconic Jack Sparrow in the next installment of POTC.
A source close to the publication revealed, “I know corporate sent him a gift basket with a very heartfelt letter, but I’m unsure how it was received. But what I can tell you is that the studio has already penned up a draft for a film about Jack Sparrow, so they are very hopeful that Johnny will forgive them and return as his iconic character.”
However, there remains no confirmation of the same. In fact, the article has raised doubts as the amount offered by Disney seems to be really close to what Johnny mentioned in the defamation trial.
If one recalls, Depp had said that he would not return to Pirates Of The Caribbean now even if he was paid a sum of something as huge as $301 million. Furthermore, producers have previously clarified that they have no plans to bring back the veteran actor so far. So this is nothing but just another rumour.
Depp’s current net worth is over USD 150 million, as he has made some staggering real estate investments which include luxury islands, French villages, and English country homes among others.
Johnny’s lifestyle is like his persona, larger than life and unbelievably exorbitant.
He has recently spent more than USD 75 million on real estate.
Here are a few things that constitute Depp’s monthly bills, according to the lawsuit:
$30,000 on wine
$300,000 on staff, including 40 full-time employees
$150,000 on security for himself and his family
$200,000 for a private jet
The Gilbert Grape actor loves to live like a true superstar.
According to TMG, Depp spent more than $75 million to buy and furnish 14 residences, including an entire village in France. Depp is now trying to unload the town, which features a church, a restaurant and several houses, for $63 million.
In a January 2017 filing, Depp mismanaged his finances, costing him millions. TMG counterclaimed that Depp dug himself into a financial hole.
The government is given the deadline of June 30 to accept the pharmaceutical industry’s demands, or the cash-strapped sector will have no choice but to shut down.
In order to prevent the collapse of the industry, Qazi Mansoor Dilawar, chairman of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA), called for the refund of Rs40 billion that the government had collected as sales tax on the import of raw materials, the removal of the 17 per cent sales tax, and a 20 to 25 per cent increase in the price of medications during a press conference at the National Press Club.
He also called for a 20 per cent increase in the maximum retail price (MRP). According to him, there is already a shortage of about 40 medicines on the market, and if immediate action is not taken, the shortage will grow alarmingly large.
Dilawar claimed that the previous administration had pledged to refund the sales tax that had been imposed as a result of IMF pressure within 48 hours, but regretted that no mechanism had yet been established, preventing the refund of a significant Rs40 billion.
The problem was made worse by a three-fold increase in the price of raw materials, a massive increase in freight costs, an increase in the price of fuel and electricity, and a drop in the value of the rupee. He added that 95 per cent of the raw materials used in the sector had to be imported.
The president of the PPMA dismissed the notion that the industry was reaping huge profits by mentioning that many medications had costs that were higher than their retail prices.
He asserted that about 70 per cent of Pakistani medications were less expensive than those found in India and Bangladesh.
In response to a question, he stated that while there was much discussion about the increase in 600 drug prices after 13 years under the PTI government, there was little discussion of the decrease in 400 drug prices.
The industry was not prepared to handle the challenge this time, according to the former PPMA chairman Qaisar Waheed, who also spoke about the recent increase in Covid-19 cases, particularly in Sindh.
A 40-year-old woman brutally killed a man and chopped up his body into pieces in the area of Saddar, Karachi. The couple was allegedly cohabiting together for many years.
On Friday, officials were informed through helpline 15 about the murder at 3am and they rushed to the location which was Ilaco House in State Life Building No. 5 off Abdullah Haroon Road.
Preedy Police Station House Officer (SHO) Sajjad Khan said that police found the body of a man lying on the floor over a pile of old clothes in the apartment on the mezzanine floor of the building.
Police officials said that the man’s hands were found separated from the body in a nearby box. The SHO added that a woman was sleeping in another room who appeared to be under the influence of drugs.
According to the witnesses and neighbours, the victim and suspect were in a live-in relationship but the woman claimed that she was his wife.
Sajjad Khan said, “According to neighbours, the two usually quarrelled with each other over domestic issues, such as finances for various expenditures.”
Police have collected evidence from the crime scene and the woman also has been arrested. The son and relatives of the victim were also called to complete legal procedures.
A First Information Report (FIR) was also registered against the woman under section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The FIR was filed under the name of the victim’s son, Sheikh Mohammad Shahid.
The victim’s body was moved for postmortem to Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC).
According to the Additional Police Surgeon of JPMC Dr Summaiya Syed, the victim’s head was smashed open so brutally with a hammer or similarly hard instrument that the matter of the brain was visible and there were three fractures on the skull. His head was beheaded and his both upper limbs were also chopped off. Some injuries on a body were also examined.
It was reported from the initial medical assessment that the victim was killed with a hard instrument and then his body was cut into pieces with a sharp shaped instrument like a knife.
The female suspect was also brought for medical examination where she revealed that she has consumed ice which is known as crystal meth.
The family of the victim told the police that they were not aware of the exact relationship between their father and suspect except that they had been living together for around six to seven years.
A police officer also said that a female child was also living with them which the suspect claimed was the daughter of the deceased.
The SHO said, “but the victim’s son told the police that when the family asked for the child’s DNA sample, the suspect did not allow them to take it.”
Bollywood superstar hosted a celebratory bash for Son Aryan Khan after his bail. The bash was attended by close friends and family members.
Don 2 star’s fans also celebrated the good news outside his house.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to Aryan Khan and co-accused Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha in plea against rejection of their bail applications by a special NDPS court in the cruise ship drug bust case.
Opposing Aryan’s bail plea during the HC hearing on Thursday, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) counsel ASG Anil Singh said applicant Aryan Khan is not a first-hand consumer but a regular consumer of drugs for the last two years. He also pointed out that Aryan was found in ‘conscious possession’ of contraband. “There is a case that a person might not have consumed the drug, but if he’s in possession of it, he can be booked under NDPS, accused Aryan was found in conscious possession of contraband,” Singh argued.
On Wednesday, Senior Advocate Amit Desai, representing co-accused and Aryan’s friend Arbaaz Merchant,argued before the single-judge bench of Justice Nitin W Sambre that the NCB’s arrests in the case were “illegal” because the agency failed to follow procedure under section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which mandates the investigating officer to issue notice of appearance prior to arrest. Desai also contended that WhatsApp chats were not admissible in court, according to previous High Court judgments and provisions of the Indian Evidence Act.
After the General Atomics US ‘Predators’ and ‘Reapers’, the unmanned aerial vehicles that caused death in the tribal regions, now an alcoholic concoction is becoming a new cause of death in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK).
The alcoholic drink is aptly named, ‘Drone’, concocted by moonshiners in the remote Tirah Valley of the Khyber tribal district, which was once infamous for militancy and poppy cultivation. “The ingredients of this alcoholic drink are easily available over-the-counter drugs, syrups, and cold drinks,” reports The Express Tribune.
A Tirah-based doctor confirmed that the brew originated in Tirah and escalated quickly to the settled districts of KP. “It has been given this funny name because it instantly makes you high and you start feeling light,” the doctor said, while speaking to The Express Tribune on the condition that he would not be identified.
Economic depression and instability have reportedly led to an increase in the use of ‘Drone’ – a cure-all elixir – by the youth in the area.
“Several kinds of sleeping tablets are dissolved in a popular soft-drink along with two types of sedative cough syrups, along with easily available cheap drugs to make this drink, which is sold for a few hundred rupees,” the doctor said.
However, the explosive flooding of the drink prompted distress among members of the local Aman Committee who had to announce a ban on certain cough syrups to rein in the uncontrolled spread of the drugging drink.
“Any shopkeeper found selling these cough syrups will be penalised with a fine – and a warning.”
Lahore police have arrested a woman on suspicion of peddling drugs by putting them in the bags of her school-going sons.
According to reports, the minors, aged eight and 10, were carrying about 9kg of drugs in their schoolbags. Police said their mother Shamim, an alleged drug peddler, used her sons as drug mules to evade the law enforcement agencies.
In March, Karachi police had arrested a woman along with her partner from Sohrab Goth over charges of providing ice drug to posh areas and universities using an auto-rickshaw.
As per reports, the woman used to sell ice and other types of drugs through rickshaw that was usually driven by her husband or son so that she could not be caught by the police. The arrested woman, Gul Bibi, and her accomplice identified as Inayat used to smuggle ice drug from Balochistan.
A man has approached the Sindh High Court, asking it to decriminalise carrying and smoking small quantities of hashish in the public interest.
The petitioner had requested the court that people be allowed to carry 10 grammes of hashish (chars) on their person. “What kind of a petition have you brought? Do you want everyone to start smoking chars?” responded Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, visibly perturbed by the plea.
At this, petitioner Ghulam Asghar Saeein informed the bench that several countries in the world have decriminalised hash.
“If you want to smoke hash then go to those countries, it is not allowed here,” responded Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, as he dismissed the petition.
“It will increase the country’s income and revenue,” said the petitioner at the judge’s questioning. “We do not want such money, as there are legitimate ways to increase income,” responded the judge.
Many Pakistanis are surprisingly open to using cannabis, with the spongy, black hash made from marijuana grown in the country’s tribal belt and neighbouring Afghanistan the preferred variant of the drug, said AFP news agency in a feature on the use of hashish in Pakistan in 2017.
Whereas alcohol is explicitly forbidden in Islamic scripture, hash seemingly straddles a theological gray zone, which could explain its popularity in the country.
Even if most observant Muslims in Pakistan scoff at the idea of drinking, a prod into their feelings on marijuana often triggers a wry smile followed by a trite maxim about how good it makes food taste or how restful sleep can be after a toke.
People have been smoking hash on the subcontinent for centuries. It predates the arrival of Islam in the region, with reference to cannabis appearing in the sacred Hindu Atharva Veda text describing its medicinal and ritual uses.
According to a 2013 UN survey, cannabis was the most widely consumed drug in Pakistan with around four million users, representing 3.6 per cent of the population – a figure that has drawn scepticism in a country where reliable data can be hard to come by.
European Union (EU) police agency, Europol, has arrested at least 746 criminals after decrypting a phone network of 60,000 organised criminals, including murderers, cartels, hitmen, assassins and money launders.
French police first hacked the network of EncroChat by deploying a “technical device” to penetrate so that they could read millions of messages “over the shoulders” of suspects as they communicated with custom-made devices.
“This is an unprecedented look into the heart of organised crime groups that led us to foil violent attacks, corruption, attempted murders and large-scale drug transports,” said Wil Van Gemert, deputy director of Europol, during a press conference in The Hague.
According to Van Den Berg, chief constable of the Dutch police’s central unit, some of the encrypted messages were so worrying that it went “far beyond the authorities’ imagination”.
In 2017, French authorities launched an investigation after finding that EncroChat phones were regularly found in operations of criminal groups and the company was operating from servers in France.
EncroChat sells customised Android handsets with GPS, camera and microphone functionalities removed. These devices are loaded with encrypted messaging apps as well as a secured secondary operating system, in addition to Android.
The phones also come with a self-destruct feature that wipes the devices after a PIN code is entered.
EncroChat had in June sent a message to its estimated 60,000 users to throw away their 1,000 euro devices as its servers had been “seized illegally by government entities”. The company has also been shut down.
EncroChat had customers in 140 countries globally. More than 90 per cent of EncroChat clients were linked to organised crime as between 50,000 to 60,000 of the phones were being used by hardened criminals.
The Dutch police have busted 19 crystal meth labs, seized 10 tonnes of cocaine and thousands of kilos of crystal meth, said Andy Kraagm, head of Dutch police’s central investigation division at the press conference.
After this massive operation, some users are throwing away their phones; some have gone offline completely while others are attempting to flee their countries.
