| [Pak Daily Times] Indian troops rubbed out three Pak smugglers carrying drugs worth millions of dollars as they sought to sneak into India through Punjab, a border security official said Saturday. India's paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF), which patrols the India-Pakistain border, said it found 24 kilogrammes of heroin worth 1.2 billion rupees ($19.5 million), along with weapons, ammunition and Pakistain mobile phones late Friday. "Last night, three Pak intruders crossed over to the Indian territory and were challenged by the BSF night patrol, but the intruders declined to surrender and fired gun shots at the BSF," Ajay Tomar, Punjab BSF Inspector General, told news hounds. "In retaliation, BSF troops fired 19 rounds and the intruders were killed on the spot." A massive search has been launched to check for any other people crossing illegally from Pakistain in the area near the Wagah international border crossing, he said. Wagah is the only road border crossing between the Indian city of Amritsar and Lahore. Local media reported last week that the BSF had seized 100 kilogrammes of heroin worth five billion rupees ($81 million) in the last two months, adding that drug trafficking had spiked at the border, which prompted BSF to increase round-the-clock patrolling. Punjab, once the wealthiest state in Asia's third-largest economy, has now become a key smuggling route for drugs that come in from Pakistain and Afghanistan. |