Karachi: Pakistani Customs officials yesterday set a huge pile of heroin, hashish, and other drugs on fire to observe the 66th international customs day.
The quantity was discovered by customs officials in recent years being smuggled to or from Pakistan.
"We have destroyed this huge quantity of drugs, narcotics, liquor to mark the 66th anniversary of Customs Day," Javed Ghani, an official told reporters at the burning pile of illicit drugs.
The drug destruction ceremony was held at Hawksbay, the beach along the Arabian Sea. A total of 300kg of heroin, 1,290kg of hashish, 428 bottles of liquor and 343 cans of beer were destroyed.
The Golden Route
The custom official did not give the value of the drugs but said in the international market they would have huge value.
"We have more quantity of narcotics at our godowns but we would destroy them after getting legal authority from the litigating courts," Ghani said.
Pakistan is the most common route used by drug traffickers to transport drugs, especially heroin, from landlocked Afghanistan to Europe, Africa and the Far East. The route from Afghanistan into Pakistan and then into eastern Iran is called ‘The Golden Route', because of huge value of heroin in the international market.
