Pakistan seizes 3 tons of hashish bound for Middle East

Karachi - Pakistani authorities have seized more than 3 tons of hashish bound for the Middle East and Europe on an oil tanker, one of the country's largest hauls of the drug ever, police and coastguard officials said on Wednesday.

The drugs were found late on Tuesday after a tip-off. The tanker had set sail from Karachi and three Pakistani men from the southwestern province of Baluchistan had been arrested for drug trafficking, police said.

"The hashish was kept in secret compartments especially meant for drug smuggling," said police officer Chakar Khan.

The 3.13 tons was the biggest seizure of hashish the coastguard had ever made, said coastguard officer Major Zafar Ahmed, The drugs were worth about $50m on the international market, he added.

Pakistan is a producer of hashish and opium, which is refined into heroin, but most of the drugs smuggled out of the country come from neighbouring Afghanistan, the world's biggest producer of both drugs, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.