Karachi: Following the recovery of another large contraband of heroin from a Pakistan International Airline flight to London, civil aviation authorities on Monday set up a high-profile probe under a senior police officer to bust the drug smuggling racket.
On Monday authorities seized 20 kilogramme of heroin worth millions of dollars in the international market from the Pakistan International Airline (PIA) flight from Islamabad to London (PK785).
Mehtab Abbasi, adviser to the Prime Minister on Aviation, ordered an urgent probe into the recovery of drugs by appointing additional inspector general of the Punjab police Hussain Asghar as its chief, a spokesman of the PIA stated in a media release.
The PIA came under criticism at home last week when United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) hauled a substantial quantity of heroin that was allegedly hidden in the PIA flight PK-785.
Although, the national flag carrier did not confirm the incident, the independent media quoting NCA statement said that its officers were investigating following the heroin haul on-board a flight from Pakistan at Heathrow on May 15.
The seizure came following the detention of about 13 members of the crew of PK-785 at Heathrow Airport. The Border Force sources were quoted as saying that the crew members were grilled for hours after a tip off.
Despite disowning the recovery of any drug from the PIA flight last week, the airline statement said that four PIA aircraft were thoroughly searched today before their international departure and the heroin was found on one of the aircraft.
The aircraft were searched with the assistance of Anti Narcotic Force (ANF) and the PIA security force. The new procedures were set up by Aviation Division’s Central Operation Committee to prevent smuggling of drugs and other contraband through the international flights.
The flight was later cleared and it took off for London after two hours delay.
