Karachi, May 27: After a one-hour gun battle with suspected drug traffickers near the Iran border, Pakistani coast guard officers confiscated about 500 kilograms of hashish, an army official said today. No one was injured during the gunfight late Sunday, and the dealers escaped in the remote coastal area near Jewani, a Pakistani town close to the Iranian border, about 800 kilometers west of Karachi, said Maj. Riaz Bangash.
``Narcotics smugglers were in the process of bringing the hashish consignment to a forward dumping location in the mountainous terrain near Jewani when the coast guard's raiding party challenged them,'' Bangash said.
Pakistan and Iran straddle a lucrative route for drugs produced mainly in Afghanistan and destined for western markets. Bureau Report