Narcotics ministry to recruit 10,000 personnel: NA informed

Our Correspondent

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Narcotics Control Shah Zain Bugti on Tuesday informed the National Assembly that his ministry wanted to recruit around 10,000 personnel from across the country to effectively combat the menace of drugs.

Speaking on the floor of the House on the demand for grants for the next fiscal year, Shah Zain Bugti said the ministry had sought permission from the Prime Minister for the recruitment.  Currently, the minister said, the ministry’s staff strength was 3,600 as its personnel were performing duties at airports, ports and other border areas.

He said that the ministry was in contact with education ministries and provincial governments for the legislation to prevent drug-selling activities in the educational institutions.

The minister said it had been proposed to impose a fine worth Rs 2 million over those educational institutions where drug-selling would be found while Rs4 million on those found involved in selling narcotics.

  The new narcotics minister said the annual seizure of narcotics in Pakistan stood at $8 billion and drugs worth $3 billion had been recently burnt in Quetta.