CAMPAIGN AGAINST DRUG-TRAFFICKERS TO BE INTENSIFIED

ISLAMABAD (NNI) - Campaign against drug-trafficking by air is being
intensified by using all possible means which include the use of detection
machines, swifter dogs and coordinated and well-knit intelligence system.

This was noticed here Friday during a meeting presided over by Federal
Minister for Interior, Lt General (Retd) Moinuddin Haider.

Speaking to the participants of the meeting, the interior minister said
that the world had appreciated and acknowledged Pakistan's efforts against
narcotics in general.

Where we have successfully controlled and reduced poppy cultivation to a
great extent besides being able to destroy a large number of heroine
laboratories, he remarked, we need to concentrate more on drug-trafficking
from our land.

Moin lamented that a number of drug-traffickers with Pakistani passports
are arrested in gulf states and other parts of the world which bring bad
name to the country.

This situation, he said, must be immediately arrested and strict and
concrete efforts should be made in this connection.

A number of proposals from the participants were discussed in detail.

It was decided that the Foreign Office would instruct Pakistan missions
abroad to provide every available information about those arrested in their
respective states to the agencies in Pakistan, so that it could be analyzed
and utilized in busting the gangs involved in drug-trafficking.

Moreover, law enforcing and other co-agencies were asked to have dedicated
arrangements which could liaise and co-act for the purpose.

The minister instructed the authorities to make sure that the warning
system against the drug-peddlers be strengthened and taken to a high-key,
so that they are time and again reminded that the penalty for the offence
was as strict as death in some countries of the world. Apart from
secretaries, Interior and Narcotics Control, director-general ANF, the
representatives of the Foreign Office, PIA, Customs, Post Office, Maritime,
Coast-Guard and ASF attended the meeting.