UK Border Force seizes heroin worth millions

LONDON: Millions of pounds worth of heroin woven into hand-made rugs and carpets was discovered by Border Force officers in a consignment being shipped from Peshawar in Pakistan via Abu Dhabi.

Border Force officials became suspicious of the 46-piece consignment at Manchester Airport after a sniffer dog alerted its handler to one of the carpets. After investigations officers have found over 50 kilograms of heroin woven into the carpets. The seizure has shocked the border and customs officials who have said that the smugglers are becoming more and more sophisticated in their methods and can go to any length for their heinous purposes.

The drugs were discovered on April 24th but the examination of the consignment continues. Following the discovery two people were arrested on suspicion of drug importation offences in London by the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) Border Policing Command. Both are believed to be Pakistan, a source told Geo.

According to Border Force officials the haul is among the largest drug seizures made at the Manchester Airport. The Border Force has termed the seizure a result of impressive vigilance and hard work of the officers given the lengths criminals go to avoid detection.

If the sniffer dog had not spotted the carpet then, officers fear, the streets of Britain would have seen millions of Pounds worth drugs on the streets. The source said that the drugs are believed to have been coming from Afghanistan via Pakistan.

Sturridge shows worth as England sink Peru

LONDON: England will head to the Americas with optimism intact after overcoming Peru 3-0 in their final pre-World Cup friendly game on home soil at Wembley Stadium on Friday.

In the first of his side´s three warm-up matches, manager Roy Hodgson saw man-of-the-match Daniel Sturridge put England ahead with a sweet 20-yard strike midway through the first half.

Centre-backs Gary Cahill and Phil Jagielka got on the scoresheet in the second period to complete a straightforward evening for England, who travel to Miami for a pre-tournament training camp on Sunday.

They will face Ecuador and Honduras there next week before opening their World Cup campaign against Group D rivals Italy in the Brazilian city of Manaus on June 14. "It was a wonderful send-off to the World Cup by a quite incredible crowd," Hodgson told ITV. "We had to be patient, but we were dominant throughout. It is the perfect end to a perfect two weeks. I am delighted that 85,000 fans came here to wish us well on our way. When you play against teams with 10 men behind the ball you have to be patient, but I had no doubt we would win."

Hodgson was also able to hand a debut to young Everton defender John Stones, while he will have drawn encouragement from the performance of Adam Lallana and a late cameo from the fit-again Jack Wilshere.

Defeat took Peru´s run of games without victory to seven, but new coach Pablo Bengoechea had selected an experimental squad shorn of big-name players such as Claudio Pizarro and Jefferson Farfan. "We were playing against a top side, who were saying goodbye to their fans before the World Cup," said Bengoechea. "They had more possession than us and we struggled to get it off them, but in the first half they didn´t hurt us."

Hodgson opted to select Danny Welbeck instead of in-form Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling, with the Manchester United man lining up on the left flank in a conventional 4-2-3-1 system.

It was the teams´ first meeting since 1962 and Peru threatened first, with Joe Hart leaping to field a deflected shot from Montpellier youngster Jean Reza, but England cranked into gear in the last 20 minutes of the first half.

Having wastefully lashed wide with his weaker right foot following a buccaneering run from Lallana, Sturridge made amends in the 32nd minute with an excellent strike that took his international goal tally to four.

After collecting a throw-in from Glen Johnson wide on the England right, he worked his way inside two defenders to the edge of the box before whipping a glorious left-foot shot into the top-left corner.

Cahill headed in from a Leighton Baines corner in the 65th minute to give England breathing space.

Five minutes later Jagielka stabbed home the third goal after visiting goalkeeper Raul Fernandez allowed another Baines corner to squirm from his grasp.

Sterling, Wilshere, Chris Smalling, James Milner, Ross Barkley and Stones all entered the fray in the latter stages, while the avoidance of injuries completed a satisfactory evening for Hodgson. (AFP)

Karachi fire gutted goods worth millions

KARACHI: The fire erupted on the first floor of the Rainbow centre in Saddar early morning on Friday here gutted goods worth millions before it could be controlled, Geo News reported.

Fire Brigade on information initially sent two fire tenders and later two more were called to control the spreading fire that soon engulfed as many as eight shops before it could be doused after one and a half hour struggle.

1,500 acres forest land worth billions, vacated on SC order, reoccupied

 

KARACHI: About 1,500 acres of forest land worth billions of rupees — located close to Hyderabad city — that was vacated 10 months ago on the orders of the Supreme Court, has been re-encroached by the same mafia.
Forest land measuring 1,446.46 acres located in union council 4 of Qasimabad, Hyderabad, was re-occupied at the behest of two Sindh ministers, ‘The News’ learnt.The Forest Department and Hyderabad deputy commissioner last week gave the wrong information to the Supreme Court in their reports, informing the court that there was no illegal encroachment on the said land.

The land was occupied in March 2013 through an illegal order of Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah in which he converted the forest land to revenue land.The land was allotted at the rate of Rs20 per acre and all the challans (government fees) of the land were submitted on the same day.

The Forest Department resisted and opposed the move.Though the land was apparently allotted to 100 persons belonging to a community, the department sources said, the original owners were two Sindh ministers and a brother of a minister.

Besides launching a housing scheme they have established a farmhouse on the land.Sources said that an agreement was also struck to start a mega housing project on the said land. After protests of civil society groups and villagers, the then Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, seized with the Karachi law and order case, took suo moto notice of the matter and after getting thereports from the concerned departments, the Supreme Court declared the Sindh chief minister’s order of conversion of forest land to Revenue land as illegal and unconstitutional and directed the authorities to vacate the land and demolish all the construction there.

The district management in May 2013 along with Rangers and police demolished all the constructions - a lavish bungalow measuring 4,000 square yards, a farm house, a cow farm and 20 shops.

According to official figures 140,827 acres forest land is occupied by the influential ruling elite in Sindh, badly affecting the environment.The sources told ‘The News’ that these influential persons after cutting precious trees were not only cultivating the land illegally but they had also constructed their personal embankments (zamindari band) to protect their farm house residences on the forest land.

The sources said such encroachments are the main cause of floods and last two floods of 2010 and 2011 were also due to these illegal embankments.The News visited the site and found constructions on the reoccupied land of the Forest Department, while armed persons were guarding the site.

Hyderabad Electricity Supply Company (Hesco) has provided special power line and transformers on the said illegal encroachment; Wasa has provided the water supply line; the Communication and Works department constructed roads, and a special police picket has been established to protect the illegal occupation and keep away the outsiders and unwanted people from the location. All the video evidences about the re-occupation, availability of civic facilities are available with ‘The News’.

It is pertinent to mention here that there are at least 20 villages in the area but they have not been provided the civic facilities which were extended to the said land.This correspondent approached Hesco spokesman Sadiq Kubar two weeks back to get their version regarding the electricity facility to the land, he asked to wait for two days to inquire the matter; after two days Kubar said that a team has been formed to inquire the matter and very soon version will be given in this regard but till the filling of this report no version was provided.

Wasa Managing Director Saleem Ahmed despite many calls and text messages did not reply.Prominent lawyer Ali Palh told ‘The News’ that there was lacuna in the Forest Act; there are nominal punishments and fines that’s why encroachments on forest land are common, so the law needs to be revived to protect the forest land. “Even this insufficient law has not been implemented,” he added.

Despite many attempts to get version, Forest Department Secretary Waseem Ursani remained reluctant to give his viewpoint; however, Forest Chief Conservator Riaz Wagan told ‘The News’ that according to his knowledge there was no illegal encroachment on the land and such report has been filed in the Supreme Court by the Hyderabad deputy commissioner and district forest officer (DFO). When this reporter informed Wagan about the actual position, he said he will conduct inquiry. Wagan further added that the Forest Department had no force to implement the law and obey the court orders we are dependent on the district management and local police.