‘Heathrow staff also involved in PIA drug smuggling racket’
Iftikhar A. Khan August 16, 2017
ISLAMABAD: A Senate panel was informed on Tuesday that the ground staff at Heathrow airport was also part of a recently-busted drug smuggling racket that was illegally transporting heroin to the UK through the national flag carrier.
The Senate Standing Committee on Interior, which met with Senator Rehman Malik in the chair, was told by Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) officials that the ground staff at Heathrow airport was complicit in taking the smuggled heroin out of the airport and said this information had already been shared with UK authorities.
The meeting was told that the ANF chief would be heading to UK next week to exchange vital information.
ANF Brigadier Basharat Malik said the drug smuggling ring on the Pakistani side had been unearthed, adding that the director general’s upcoming visit would help bust the racket in the UK. He also alluded to a meeting between ANF officials and UK’s National Crime Agency, where some important information was shared.
The Senate panel was told that when heroin was first seized from PIA planes earlier this year, the smuggling had been going on for a few months.
An ANF official said the smuggling ring in the Pakistani side included an Afghan national, two Pakistanis, as well as serving and retired officials from Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), and a retired official of the Airport Security Force (ASF). “A total of 14 accused have been arrested, while two are on the run,” he told the Senate committee.
He also said that the suspects among ground staff at Heathrow were also of Afghan origin, but their identity could only be ascertained after another meeting with UK authorities.
The ANF officer said a member of PIA’s sanitary staff was the main coordinator of the gang and made all arrangements for the placement of heroin bags inside planes. Even employees of the airline’s IT department were found to be complict, he added.
The panel was informed that a committee headed by the Aviation Division secretary was scrutinising the working of all three dozen departments working at Pakistan’s airports Recalling the chain of events, Brig Basharat said that ANF first seized 15kg of heroin from a PIA plane parked at a hangar at Karachi airport on April 3, 2017, before the seizure of 11kg heroin from a PIA plane at Heathrow on May 15.
Then, 14kg of heroin was seized at Islamabad airport on May 23, followed by another 2.4kg recovered on May 31 from another plane. “We had intelligence regarding this smuggling pattern and had started a covert operation even before the seizure of narcotics in London.”
Senator Javed Abbasi asked ANF officials what mechanism was used for the clearance of planes before takeoff, saying that heroin was apparently being smuggled by the tonne. ANF officials said that the force lacked modern technology and scanning gadgets, adding that the demand had been forwarded to the government.
However, they claimed that it was very difficult to completely curb the smuggling of narcotics, pointing out that drugs were even recovered from a British Airways plane in the past, despite the advanced precautionary measures in place there.
Senator Rehman Malik, the committee chairman, directed the concerned departments to ensure the installation of CCTV cameras at all airport hangars, and directed the narcotics control secretary and ANF to submit their requirements, both in terms of manpower and financial needs, to the committee so they could be put to the government. He alleged that Afghanistan was the major producer of narcotics and drugs, adding that it was time for Pakistan to ask the US to ‘do more’ in order to eliminate drugs from Afghanistan.
He insisted on the need for better border management with Afghanistan to block the entry of all kinds of narcotics and drugs, adding that these were used by terrorists to finance their activities.
Source:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1351816
Ground staffers at London Heathrow Airport were also involved in this crime
Racket includes an Afghan national, two Pakistanis, PIA and ASF officials, ANF chief to exchange important info with British authorities
ISLAMABAD - The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) Tuesday informed a Senate panel that heroin and other narcotics in large quantity were frequently smuggled to the UK via PIA planes for the last many months.
The Senate penal was also informed that the ANF chief would soon visit the Heathrow Airport to exchange some important information with British authorities.
Two senior officers of the ANF told the Senate Standing Committee on Interior that the seizure of heroin from the PIA aircraft earlier this year was destined to be smuggled only to the UK and the smuggling was going on for the past some time.
“The ANF unearthed the smuggling racket from the Pakistani side and we have conveyed to the British authorities that the ground staffers at the London’s Heathrow Airport were also involved in this crime,” ANF Director Brig Basharat Malik told the committee that met under the chair of Senator Rehman Malik.
“We have held a meeting with the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and shared some important information with them but after the visit of the ANF’s director general to Heathrow, the racket from the British side would be unearthed,” he claimed.
The ANF officer said that the racket from the Pakistani side involved an Afghan national, two Pakistanis, the serving and retired officials of the Pakistan International Airlines, a retired official of Airport Security Forces (ASF).
“A total of 14 accused have been arrested while two are on the run,” he said, adding that the ground staff at the Heathrow Airport involved in the smuggling was also apparently of Afghan origin but their final identity could be ascertained after a second meeting with the UK authorities. The officer said that Pervaiz Messiah, an employee of the state owned airlines’ sanitary staff, was the main coordinator of this gang who made all arrangements for the placement of heroin bags inside the planes. “The employees of the airline’s IT department were also found involved,” he said.
The penal was told that a committee under the chair of Secretary Aviation Division was scrutinising the working of all departments, around 32 in number, working at Pakistan’s airports to identify loopholes as well as issues of lack of coordination to check the smuggling. The answer came after a lawmaker questioned that which agency or the department was responsible for checking the smuggling at the airports as a number of departments used to work there.
The ANF officer said that the force was only responsible for narcotics smuggling but there should be a strict mechanism of surveillance as well as scanning as explosives and weapons could also be summoned in the presence of weak arrangements.
Brig Basharat said that the ANF first seized 15kg of heroin from a PIA plane parked at the hanger of the Karachi airport on April 3, 2017, before the seizure of 11kg heroin from a PIA plane at Heathrow Airport on May 15 this year. Then, a 14kg of heroin was seized on May 23 at the Islamabad airport followed by a 2.4kg of heroin on May 31 from another plane. “We had an intelligence of this smuggling pattern and had started a covert operation even before the seizure of narcotic in London.”
Senator Javed Abbasi asked for the mechanism of clearance of planes before the takeoff. The ANF officials said that the force lacked modern technology and gadgets for scanning at the airports and had already placed a demand to the government. They said the force had no GSM locator, has a staff of around 3,200 against a demand of 10,000. They, however, said that a complete curbing of narcotics smuggling was difficult and quoted an example that narcotics from a plane of British Airways had also been seized in the past despite the high precautionary measures adopted by the developed countries.
Brig Basharat also said that the PIA was responsible for the security of planes parked at hangers. Committee Chairman Malik directed the department concerned for the installation of CCTV cameras at the hangers of all airports. He also directed the Secretary Narcotics Control and ANF to submit their requirements, both manpower and financial needs, to the committee so that these could be demanded from the government.
The ANF officer said that there was a need to amend the anti-narcotic law as the present law only awarded punishment to those who possess narcotics and not to those who were planners or coordinators.
Senator Muhammad Saif pointing towards the weak security arrangements at the airports remarked that he used to visit the airport regularly with a weapon in his possession but no one ever stopped him.
Source:
The Nation
Boeing 777 plane used in four major drug cases: ANF
FAZAL SHER
AUG 16TH, 2017 - ISLAMABAD
Boeing 777 aeroplane of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had been used in four major drug trafficking cases unearthed by Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) in the last few months and the ANF conducted checking of the 1,573 flights after these incidents, said director general (DG) ANF on Monday.
DG ANF Major General Musarrat Nawaz Malik informed Senate Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Control, which met with Senator Abdul Rehman Malik in the chair, that checking of Boeing 777 is still continued to keep check over drug smuggling.
"During last few months four major cases of drug trafficking have been discovered in PIA planes," he said, adding that 15-kg heroin was found hidden in PIA Boeing 777 at Karachi on April 3, 2017, 11-kg heroin was recovered at Heathrow Airport on May 15, 2017, 14.7-kg of heroin was recovered from Boeing 777 at Benazir Bhutto Airport on May 22, 2017 and 2.4-kg heroin was found in Boeing 777 aircraft at Karachi Airport on May 31, 2017. He will visit Heathrow next month to exchange some important information. He further said that a total of 14 members of drug trafficking ring involved in these four major incidents, who were mostly employees of PIA, arrested by the ANF. One Afghan national and two Pakistani accused are still at large, he added.
Malik said the arrests made by the ANF mostly include junior employees; therefore, the committee should be informed about the possible involvement of senior PIA officials. Senator Muhammad Javed Abbasi said that ANF and other agencies should prepare a comprehensive mechanism in order to avert such incidents in future. "The concerned agencies need to determine the role of people responsible for such kinds of incidents," said Senator Syed Shibli Faraz. Senator Muhammad Ali Khan Saif said that the lack of coordination among different agencies including ANF is one of the main reasons behind the growing cases of drug trafficking.
To a question raised by Faraz, the DG ANF said that not a single official of the ANF was found involved in all the four major incidents. The ANF is facing acute manpower shortage and a summary has been forwarded to the Prime Minister to raise the strength of force up to 10,000 from 3,148, he said, adding that the ANF is not only facing problem of shortage of manpower but is also lacking modern equipment including full-body scanner, handheld narcotics analyzer, luggage scanner, and GSM tracker device.
He said that the ANF is also not part of fair trial act and it operates according to three different laws. Malik recommended secretary of Ministry of Narcotics Control to send a summary to cabinet to make ANF part of fair trail act. He also directed the secretary Ministry of Narcotics Control and the ANF to submit their requirements, both about manpower and financial needs, with the committee so that these can be approved from the government.
Malik said that Afghanistan is the major country for the production of narcotics and drugs. It is time for Pakistan to ask the US to 'do more' in order to eliminate drugs from Afghanistan, he said, adding that drug and narcotics is an international issue and affecting every country including West and the death ratio from drug is higher than ratio of deaths in terrorism.
He emphasized on the need for border management with Afghanistan to block entry of all kinds of narcotics and drugs. Federal Minister for Narcotics Control Lieutenant General Syed Salahuddin Tirmizi (retd) said that his ministry is making serious efforts to increase its coordination with provinces. The United States and Afghanistan governments are making efforts to eliminate drugs, but Taliban cultivate poppy crop in their dominated areas for financing their terrorist activities, he added.
The committee also took serious notice of the incident of missing important documents, stolen from the residence of Senator Syed Shibli Faraz and directed Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Sajid Kiani to ensure the recovery of the stolen documents.
Malik said that the committee is receiving a lot of complaints against the owners of different housing societies. He directed Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to take action against all those housing societies that are selling plots without registration and no objection certificates (NOCs) from authorities concerned and Capital Development Authority (CDA). Senator Mohammad Saleh Shah, Senator Mukhtiar Ahmed Dhamrah, and senior officials of Ministry of Narcotics Control, Ministry of Interior, FIA and police also attended the meeting.
Source:
http://fp.brecorder.com/2017/08/20170816209413/
