The Food Department Rawalpindi and district police on Friday foiled a bid to smuggle wheat and flour and seized 2450 flour bags besides 2720 wheat bags. According to a district administration spokesman, the authorities of the food department and Naseerabad police confiscated eight truckloads of wheat and flour and also impounded eight trucks. Eight drivers namely Abbas, Zakir, Fareed, Burhan ud din, Sajjad, Mukhtar and Rehmat were also sent behind the bars, he added.
The authorities concerned had been directed to strictly monitor district exit points to control wheat smuggling, he said adding, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Rawalpindi Tahir Farooq had instructed the authorities to strictly monitor the movement of wheat and take strict action in accordance with the law against the rules violators.
The spokesman said that all the exit points of Rawalpindi division were being monitored round the clock to control wheat smuggling as the administration had set up 14 check posts at exit points of the four districts of the division to check wheat smuggling. The administration in collaboration with police and special branch, was carrying out operations and a special monitoring system had also been developed particularly for exit points of Rawalpindi division to check wheat smuggling. A comprehensive plan had been formulated to curb the smuggling of wheat, he added.
The check posts were set up at exit points of Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum and Chakwal districts, he said and informed, the district administration in collaboration with the Motorway police and the food department was making efforts to control wheat smuggling.
