Police foil ‘ice smuggling bid’ in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: The capital city police, during an action, recovered a huge quantity of ice (meth) and arrested one person who had smuggled it from Afghanistan, a senior official said on Sunday.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Sajjad Khan told a press conference at his office that the police had been tipped off about the smuggling of the newly-introduced drug called ice in a car.

“The cops, during the search, stopped a car (LEC-2753) on the Canal Road in the limits of the University Town Police Station and recovered 1,040 grams of ice from it. One smuggler Muqaddas, hailing from Jalalabad, Afghanistan, has been arrested,” said Sajjad Khan.

The official said the accused had disclosed that he had smuggled the drug from Afghanistan and was going to transport it to the locals here. He said the police were investigating the use of the money collected from the sale of ice in terrorism activities.

“We have launched a special campaign against the drug sellers and traffickers all over the provincial capital for the last several weeks. A large number of people have been rounded up during the campaign and huge quantity of ice, hashish, heroin, opium and other drugs have been recovered from them,” said the deputy city police chief.

Sajjad Khan said that several drug sellers and traffickers had been rounded up during the campaign. The capital city police have been directed to take special actions against the sellers and traffickers of ice after reports that a large number of youth have been addicted to the new drug that is being considered a fashion now. One gram of ice is being sold at Rs1000 to Rs3000 in the local market.

Ice is getting popular among the locals as party drug as hashish and heroin have become somewhat outdated. This synthetic drug is more dangerous for the human body than other drugs while it is more expensive than hashish and heroin.

A special campaign is also underway against beggars after several complaints by the locals that hundreds of people are seen in markets, public places and restaurants all the time, begging for money.

Many of the female beggars even endanger the lives of their children by intoxicating them for hours to show people that their kids are sick and the families need money for their treatment. “We have launched a crackdown all over the city. More than 100 people have been arrested so far after complaints by the locals. They all need to be rehabilitated in centres set up by the government,” said a police official.