KEY POINTS
- Authorities seize over 21,000 rounds of arms and ammunition during routine inspection.
- Authorities are treating it as organised attempt to threaten public safety and national security.
- Incident comes amid strained Pakistan-Afghan Taliban relations and increased border monitoring.
- Abandoned US arms in Afghanistan are reportedly reaching terrorist groups.
- Half a million weapons from Taliban stockpiles have been lost, sold, or smuggled to terrorists.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Customs authorities have seized over 21,000 rounds of arms and ammunition at the Torkham border crossing with Afghanistan.
The suspicious consignment was detected during routine cargo scrutiny at Customs Station Torkham, according to a statement from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Tuesday.
“An apparently empty vehicle, bearing registration number TAH-027, was shifted to the NLC Import Terminal for detailed scanning. Scanned images revealed irregularities, prompting a thorough physical examination that led to the seizure,” it said.
“This incident is being treated as a deliberate and organised attempt to undermine public safety and national security,” it said, adding that a case has been registered and further legal proceedings are underway under the law.
Authorities said customs officials were coordinating closely with other law enforcement agencies to conduct a comprehensive investigation from all possible angles.
The seizure comes amid tense ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan, following border closures and security incidents last year that disrupted trade and movement, leading to increased monitoring of cross-border traffic.
Torkham, one of the busiest border crossings, serves as a vital transit point for commercial goods. Pakistan’s revenue authorities emphasised their ongoing commitment to preventing smuggling and protecting national revenue.
It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States had warned that US weapons left behind in Afghanistan were being misused by terrorist groups to carry out attacks inside Pakistan, raising concerns over growing security threats emanating from the Afghan soil.
A recent report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), a US government watchdog, revealed that the Americans abandoned billions of dollars’ worth of weapons and military equipment during the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Parallel findings from UN monitoring teams and a Washington Post investigation indicate that some of these weapons have already filtered to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), strengthening a group responsible for escalating attacks inside Pakistan.
Half a million weapons obtained by the Taliban in Afghanistan have been lost, sold, or smuggled to terrorist groups, the BBC reported in April last year.
The Taliban took control of around one million weapons and pieces of military equipment, which had mostly been funded by the US, when it regained control of Afghanistan in 2021, according to a former Afghan official who spoke to the BBC anonymously.
