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RAWALPINDI, Dec 21 (APP):Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) while conducting two separate operations managed to recover over six kg drugs and arrested three suspects besides seizing two vehicles, said an ANF Headquarters spokesman.
He informed that two suspects were arrested who were involved in drug smuggling from South America. The drugs were to be transported on a large scale across Punjab.
In an operation, ANF using its intelligence sources identified an accused namely Chaudhry Suleman Ali, a British-origin Pakistani (dual citizen) residing in Bahria Town, Lahore, along with his brother Chaudhry Habib, a British citizen, as the key smugglers. The accused were managing the distribution of cocaine in the province and the country.
The spokesman informed that on Friday, in a coordinated intelligence-based operation in Lahore, the undercover officer was introduced to a drug dealer Salman to get information. During the execution of the operational plan, the undercover officer met Salman three times and successfully obtained two samples of cocaine from him.
Dummy cash was also used to trap the criminal and gain his trust. Meanwhile, a long physical surveillance/ground investigation was conducted by the ANF intelligence teams along with the ground forces.
All this led to the identification of the suspected hideout/house of Salman Ali and Aamir Habib in Bahria Town Lahore. As a result, on 20 December, the ANF Intelligence team along with ANF Punjab conducted an operation near Jalal Sons Bakers, Bahria Town Lahore and arrested the accused Salman. ANF team also recovered two blocks of cocaine weighing 2 kg from him and seized the Honda City car.
Later, in a follow-up operation conducted on the identification of the accused during the investigation, a planned raid was conducted at Salman’s house located in Bahria Homes, Lahore.
During the search of the house, 1 kg packet of cocaine was also recovered from his house.
On the same day, in another operation conducted on Salman’s tip-off, another raid was conducted in Overseas Block A of Bahria Town Lahore during which another accused namely Aamir Habib was arrested from another house. Two blocks of cocaine weighing 2 kg were recovered from the vehicle on the spot.
The operation is a significant step towards stopping the large-scale supply of cocaine across the country, especially in Punjab.
The spokesman further informed that in another operation at Islamabad International Airport, ANF recovered drugs from the possession of a French national.
The accused reached at Islamabad Airport from India and was on his way to Sri Lanka via Muscat.
Upon search, 1058 grams hashish was recovered from his possession. He was smuggling the drugs hidden in the packaging of chocolates.
Separate cases have been registered against the accused and further investigations are under process.