The Airport Security Force (ASF) has recovered Rs. 70 million worth of heroin in a raid from a passenger flying to Istanbul from Islamabad International Airport.
The suspect, Imran, was travelling for Umrah when 5 kg and 448g of drugs were found on his person. He had soaked three Ihram towels with a solution of heroin.
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.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday stopped Czech model Tereza Hluskova from travelling abroad in drug smuggling case.
According to ARY News, Tereza Hluskova was sentenced to eight years and eight months in jail by a sessions court in April 2019. She was arrested at Lahore airport for attempting to smuggle heroin from Pakistan to Abu Dhabi on January 10, 2018.
The court acquitted her last year in November and was released from prison the same month.
On Tuesday, the apex court issued notice to Czech model and stopped her from leaving the country on the request of Pakistan customs.
The counsel for Customs contended in the court that Tereza Hluskova was sentenced to eight years in prison by the trial court for smuggling drugs and was later on released by LHC.
Minister of State for Narcotics Control Shehryar Afridi has said that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan wants the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) to stop burning seized drugs, and set up a factory where the same will instead be used to make medicines.
In a video doing rounds over the internet, Afridi can be heard as saying that his department was working to set up a factory on the premier’s orders, where medicines will be made from seized drugs, thousands of kilograms (kg) of which are set ablaze every year at a drug-burning ceremony.
“We are setting up a factory… we burn a huge cache of heroin, charas [hashish form of cannabis] and afeem [opium] every year, but other countries use them to make medicines. Now, on PM Imran Khan’s instructions, a factory will be established in Tirah [Valley] so that lives of locals can be improved,” he can be heard as saying while addressing a gathering.
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Several illegal drugs have been investigated for medical benefits such as treating hard-to-treat mental illnesses and chronic disorders.
While cannabis or marijuana has long been known to provide pain relief, it also offers relief from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, controls nausea, and can minimise some symptoms of glaucoma and Crohn’s disease. In the United States (US) states where the drug is legalised, products for such things as period pain management are being made available to the public.
As for heroin, a study at Hannover Medical School found opiate addicts — usually people addicted to painkillers like Vicodin, Percocet, Oxycontin, or Demerol — were able to better kick their opiate addiction after taking small dosages of heroin. Heroin is also commonly used in hospitalised pain management, particularly in palliative care.
THE CURRENT AT ANF’S DRUG-BURNING CEREMONY: