Pakistan foils terror bid, seizes arms smuggled from Afghanistan

A security official inspects a seized weapon after Pakistani authorities impounded a truck attempting to smuggle weapons from Afghanistan into Pakistan via the Torkham border on Dec. 13, 2019. (Photo courtesy: KP Customs Department)

• KP information minister says authorities suspect an organized group behind the smuggling
• 207 weapons of different brands were concealed in a truck crossing Torkham border to enter Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities on Friday impounded a truck carrying a huge arms cache coming from Afghanistan via Torkham border, an anti-narcotics official said on Sunday.
The illicit crossing over of arms, drugs and other illegal materials at Torkham, the major border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan, is not uncommon.
In January this year, hundreds of weapons were seized concealed inside a coal truck entering Pakistan from Afghanistan. In June last year, Afghan forces seized a huge bomb-making cache in the back of a vegetable truck crossing over from Pakistan.
“While passing through the transit scanners, the truck coming from Afghanistan was found suspicious on Friday. A thorough search of the truck led the customs department, Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) and other security officials to recover 207 weapons of different brands including Tomahawk and Maverick guns with Turkish made seals,” Raffaqat Hussain, a sub-inspector of the ANF, told Arab News at the busy Pak-Afghan Torkham border in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
However, the arms smugglers inside the truck, including the driver of the vehicle, managed to flee after the truck was seized. A passport belonging to the driver was found on the dashboard of the vehicle, Hussain said. He added that the weapons were masterfully concealed inside the truck’s hidden cavities.
KP’s provincial Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai told Arab News that his government had ‘zero tolerance’ for banned items including arms and narcotics to and from Afghanistan.
“Yes, a truck carrying arms from Afghanistan has been impounded but investigations are in initial process and its findings cannot be made public at this point,” Yousafzai said.
“The officials concerned suspect an organized group behind the botched arms’ smuggling attempt. A looming threat of terror has been foiled but investigations are underway to reach to the depth of the issue,” he added.
Authorities said that a case had been lodged and all concerned departments from police to Khasadar and counter-terrorism forces, were involved in the investigation.
Yousafzai said Pakistan and Afghanistan shared a long porous border but provincial authorities had intensified efforts to discourage illegal business and smuggling along the border areas.
In July this year, Prime Minister Imran Khan had directed all concerned departments to initiate a countrywide crackdown on smuggling, in an Islamabad meeting.
Also in that meeting, it was unanimously decided that a committee would be formed, to be headed by the interior minister, to systemize transit trade and curb smuggling at Pak-Afghan and Pak-Iran border areas.