Pakistan Seeks Alleged Drug Dealer

By KATHY GANNON

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) Pakistan wants the United States to return an air
force officer arrested in New York City on charges of heroin trafficking,
news reports said today.

Pakistan Air force squadron leader Farooq Ahmed Khan was arrested last week
allegedly while trying to sell 4 1/2 pounds of heroin.

Since then, police in Pakistan have arrested a second air force squadron
leader, Qazim Bhatti, who allegedly was working with Khan to use the air
force, its aircraft and relative immunity, to move heroin outside the
country.

Khan apparently was waiting to sell the heroin to a buyer for $160,000
outside a fastfood restaurant in New York when he was arrested, the
independent Karachibased newspaper, the Dawn, reported.

The United Nations and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration say Pakistan
is a major distribution route for the tons of opium and heroin produced in
neighboring Afghanistan.

Afghanistan produces as much as 2,000 tons of opium annually, making it one
of the world's largest producers.

The opium is converted into heroin in the estimated hundreds of laboratories
hidden away in the tribal belt that borders the two countries. From there it
is shipped to markets in Europe and the United States.

Several newspapers have reported the possibility of further arrests involving
the use of the air force in drug trafficking.

Altaf Gohar, a senior columnist, went on governmentrun television last week
to demand the resignation of Pakistan's Air Force chief Abbas Khattak.

In recent years, Pakistan has arrested and deported several drug barons to
the United States. But most experts say the easy movement of drugs through
Pakistan remains one of the biggest setbacks in the war against drugs.