By Mashhud

KARACHI: Pakistan Customs has seized a total of 8.5KG of Cocaine from in-bound passengers at the Karachi airport in a week.

Additional Collector Sanaullah Abro said import and recovery of such large quantity of Cocaine suggests growing demand of the commodity in Pakistan.

Pakistan Customs at Karachi airport seized cocaine around 4KG detected in tin packed foodstuff from an African woman passenger arrived at Karachi airport.  Value of drugs will be more than Rs100 million.

Last week 3KG of Cocaine was detected at Karachi airport. In another incident 1.5KG of Cocaine worth more than Rs30 million was recovered from an African passenger arrived from Dubai by Emirates flight.

Deputy Collector Arrivals Wasif Malik is keeping strict vigilance on the influx of narcotics and liquor ahead of New Year celebrations.

Intelligent profiling by Customs officers in shift and discovering concealment in bag led to recovery of such large quantity of narcotics.

An official said cocaine smuggling via Karachi airport was not likely, however staff at other airports should stay vigilant.