LONDON: A large amount of heroin was seized from Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) PK-785 by UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA).
“National Crime Agency officers are investigating following the seizure of a large quantity of heroin found by Border Force officers onboard a flight from Pakistan at Heathrow on Monday, May 15. No arrests have been made, inquiries are ongoing,” NCA spokesman said.
Earlier, 13 crew members of PIA PK-785 who had arrived from Islamabad were detained at the Heathrow Airport. The crew members were kept in detention for five hours. According to UK Border Agency (UKBA) sources, information had been received from Pakistan that there were narcotics onboard the flight. There was a suspicion that the crew might be involved and that narcotics were hidden in different panels and areas of the plane.
The crew was released at 2 AM (GMT) after being questioned. However, their passports are still held by the UKBA, which states that further questioning might take place. The PIA crew said that the customs authorities carried out a thorough search going through each and every thing, adding they had no clue as to why such treatment was meted out to them. The crew said the authorities also questioned them, and inquired the crew what part of the plane were they assigned to.
The crew said that the authorities had assured them that their passports, which remain confiscated, would be returned when the crew left for Pakistan. In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said action against PIA crew members was taken by the UKBA, which was directly dealt by the Home Office. Earlier, a spokesperson for PIA had said that the crew members were not detained.
According to the spokesperson, the crew members, which included the pilot had finished their duties after flying from Islamabad to London. They were never scheduled to fly on PK-785 from London to Lahore in the first place, the spokesperson said. According to the spokesperson, PK-758 landed in Lahore with a new crew. The original crew stayed back in London after its duty had ended, as per schedule, the spokesperson said. The spokesperson further added that passports of the crew members had been returned.
