950804

Drugs smuggling

Interim challans

against three

Americans filed

KARACHI: The Custom's Investigation and Prosecution Branch has submitted interim challan against three foreigners, including a woman, and a Pakistani national who were arrested from Quaid-e-Azam International Airport following recovery of substantial quantity of heroin powder from their possession.

The accused in the case are Christopher Rolling Kelly possessing US passport No 093041174, Carrie Leigh Dempsey US passport No 093041175 and Jody Lynn Robledo d/o Elizabeth Deel, US passport No 093041176 besides the Pakistani national Khalid Yousuf Malik s/o Ghulam Yousuf, a resident of Jinnah Street, DC Road, Gujranwala.

According to brief facts of the case, three US nationals were caught before their boarding a New York-bound PIA flight PK-721 on the night of July 11/12, last.

Their baggage, which consisted of three large scuitcases, two hand-bags and one American 'Tourister' brand suitcase, apparently contained personal belongings. But when minutely checked they yielded off-white herion powder wrapped in 139 assorted size polythene packets cleverly concealed in the upper and lower four side walls of all the four suitcases.

The suitcase owned by Christopher Rolling Kelly contained 45 polythene packets with 3.2 kg heroin. The suitcase owned by Carrie Leigh Dempsey contained 32 packets with 3.2 kg heroin and the suitcase owned by Jody Lynn Robledo contained 36 packets with 3.6 kg heroin whereas the smaller scuitcase owned jointly contained 26 packets with 2 kg heroin. The total recovery was 12 kg herion.

Preliminary scruitiny of seized travelling documents revealed that the accused had arrived in Pakistan together and also stayed together.

Invetigations revealed that all the three foreigners were hired by a drug syndicate operating between the USA and Pakistan. One Mike alias 'Big Mike', a member of the syndicate, asked them to proceed to Pakistan and fetch suitcases containing heroin concealed therein.

They were instructed to stay at Hotel Kabana, Lahore, where a person named Mateen would hand over the suitcases to them. Mike had also given them his telephone numbers in the USA and the syndicate provided airline return tickets and also paid $2,500 in cash to each.

The three accused left Lahore for New York via Karachi on the night of July 11/12. The rolls of photographic films seized from the accused were got developed which revealed some of the people whom the accused had come in contact during their stay in Pakistan.

During investigation it was revealed that their hotel bills and other charges were paid by one Mateen who also used Suzuki car No GAH7900. He had also made four calls on phone No. 5750841 in Lahore in a span of two hours. This phone was subscribed to Safari Guest House where one Zareen Shah of Landi Kotal stayed from July 9 to 12. He was visited by Mateen. It was revealed that both Mateen and Zareen Shah were the Pakistani members of a drug cartel operating in the USA and were instrumental in the smuggling of the seized 12 kg of heroin through the three arrested US nationals.

Further enquiries showed that Suzuki car belonged to one Khalid Yousuf Malik of Gujranwala who owns an import and export firm in the name of Continental Associates having office in Sialkot.

The feed-back received from the US Drug Enforcement Administration, Karachi, has revealed that accused Khalid Yousuf Malik was an ex-convict in the USA and was involved in a number of conspiracies of drug smuggling operations in the US. He was first arrested in 1980 in USA along with Arshad Ali Malik, Akhtar Islam Malik, Naeem Akhtar Malik and other foreign associates.

According to the interim challan as per liaison with US Drug Enforcement Administration, Karachi, investigations at US end still continuing.-APP