September 13, 2023

LAHORE: A high-level investigation into the cross-border drug smuggling scam has taken a surprise turn when an inquiry panel detected many “illegal” properties worth billions of rupees, allegedly belonging to the accused police officer, who was termed an underworld don in uniform. Headed by the Lahore SSP, Internal Accountability (IA), the three-member panel of the police officers was conducting a departmental inquiry against the accused, ex-deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Mazhar Iqbal, who was heading the Anti-Narcotics Investigation Unit (ANIU) of Lahore police when Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) unearthed a racket of cross-border drug smuggling through drones. The ANF had booked Mazhar in the last week of August for allegedly taking Rs75 million bribe from a drug smuggler, Ahmad, who was also involved in cross-border smuggling of Ice drug. As per the ANF, the ex-police officer had recovered 35kg drugs and three cars from the residence of Ahmad, but released him after lodging a case of 450 grams of drugs only. The ANF had arrested another suspect, Fiaz, who told the investigators that he was a front man of Mazhar, who was involved in cross-border drug smuggling for many years. During the probe, an official source said, the inquiry panel found criminal record of Mazhar, exposing the system that had been patronising him. The source said Mazhar Iqbal was dismissed from service six times since 1994 and suspended from service 45 times for his alleged involvement in illegal activities, mostly related to drug trafficking cases. Initially, the source said, the worth of the alleged illegal properties of Mazhar alias Mazhari was estimated at over Rs2 billion. The inquiry panel also traced 13 criminal cases lodged against the former officer since 1994, registered with Factory Area, Ravi Road, Bhatti Gate, Lytton Road, Model Town, South Cantt and Tibbi City police stations. Similarly, five criminal cases were registered against him by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Lahore. In addition, a drug case was lodged against the ex-DSP by the ANF in 2007, the official said, adding that he has been allegedly patronising notorious gangsters, pickpockets and drug smugglers in the provincial capital. The official said as per findings of the probe panel, Mazhar was living in a 4-kanal villa in Defence Housing Authority Lahore and owned seven more houses in the DHA. The panel also traced 125 costly cars purchased by him during his police service in Lahore. The source said an ANF team was separately working on the assets he had made during his service in Lahore. He said a former CCPO of Lahore had appointed Mazhar as head of the ANIU in Lahore despite having criminal record. There were reports that Mazhar enjoyed backing of some senior police officers in Punjab, besides some key political figures. To a question, the official source said, the suspect went underground after cancellation of his bail in the case lodged by the ANF. The probe is underway, he says, expecting unearthing of more illegal properties owned by the former police official, who still has “sympathisers” in the department. Source:https://www.dawn.com/news/1775552/cross-border-drug-smuggling-scam-probe-finds-illegal-assets-worth-billions-owned-by-lahore-ex-dsp

Tnirte, Morocco – Abdel Abed is watching the other villagers digging. When one of them gets tired, he scrambles down and takes over. It has been five days since the magnitude 6.8 earthquake ripped through the mountainous regions around Marrakesh, Morocco, and Abed’s daughter, nine-year-old Shaima, is still buried under the rocks. Abed still hopes she may be alive, a family member explains, and he works with almost robotic energy as excavation efforts continue in Tnirte in the High Atlas Mountains. His wife was pulled dead from the rocks yesterday. Abed himself had been rescued on Saturday, the relative says. Nearby, a small team of Spanish firefighters rise from their lunch to help in the search. They have sent the sniffer dogs home. Dogs can only smell the living, one explains. Tnirte has two town centres, with rubble strewn across both. Along the track that connects the two, young men either ride or lead donkeys carrying aid from the delivery point at the bottom of the slope to where Abed works above. The town of Tnirte has seen some of its buildings levelled by the quake [Simon Speakman Cordall/Al Jazeera] Almost everyone here has lost someone. Abdel Ali, 22, escorts his donkey along the debris-strewn path, the smell of decay hanging in the air. He pulls a twig from the side of the track and swats his donkey on its rear, hurrying it – and the emergency aid it carries – along. “My house was destroyed,” he tells a translator. “My grandfather and aunt were killed.” Relief efforts in the region around Marrakesh are only just starting to ramp up. Morocco’s King Mohamed VI visited the city on Tuesday, lending his prestige to the efforts. Outside of the city, in Amizmiz, international aid is announcing itself in the form of a camp. Along rows of neatly-ordered tents, rescue teams from the United Kingdom, Qatar, Israel and other countries debate how to navigate the devastated terrain. Russ Gordon, a team leader for the UK’s rescue mission, stands impatiently outside of one of the tents, the Union Jack flag propped up behind him. “Access is a huge problem. Many routes have been cut off by boulders and large landslides. We’re working closely with the Moroccan civil defence and military and relying on their local knowledge of the area,” he says, before disappearing into the tent to talk aerial surveillance and deployments. The Atlas Mountain valleys are pockmarked with tents as aid arrives in remote areas [Simon Speakman Cordall/Al Jazeera] Medical aid clinics, constructed rapidly from flat packs, now dot many of the often single-track roads that line the mountains. In one, Dr Ismail Mesteri, 26, prepares for the patients he believes will come once they hear of the clinic. However, even with his nursing team, his resources are limited. The most serious cases will need to be transported to the university hospital in Marrakesh, some two hours away, he said. Mesteri gestures to the road outside, already jammed with cars waiting for a broken-down truck to be moved out of the way. ”People die trying to get to Marrakesh,” he said. Traffic jams have posed a critical challenge to relief efforts. Narrow roads are sometimes blocked by heavy trucks that struggle with the difficult climb up the mountains. They can impede the flow of relief trucks and ambulances to areas that need them most. Villages and hamlets, sometimes far from the main roads, proved no match for the quake. But the tight paths that lead to them are now congested as relief trucks compete with donkeys and motorbikes for space. Dr Ismail Mesteri waits for patients to arrive [Simon Speakman Cordall/Al Jazeera] Critics have argued that poverty as much as geology played a critical role in the destruction this region has faced. The Moroccan government has promised an extensive rebuilding programme, with many residents likely to be offered new houses built to modern standards. Details are scarce but the logistics are daunting. Miles of winding, perilous roads must be widened. Houses that have stood for centuries must now be reimagined and renovated in line with current seismic retrofitting standards. The changes are long overdue, Chef Lhassen Boqqi, who grew up in the High Atlas Mountains says. But something will be lost. ”It was already changing,” he says from behind the wheel of a four-wheel drive. ”Young people no longer wanted to live in the villages. They wanted to go to Marrakesh and get educated but the mountains remain our home.” Reflecting on the peaks around him, he continues: “They’re like pillars. They’re safe, now that it is over.” But Boqqi believes change will come to the region anyway. “Many more will leave for the city and those that remain will live in concrete houses.” Ahmed al-Hajj says he lost his sister in the earthquake that struck Morocco on September 8 [Simon Speakman Cordall/Al Jazeera] Many of the survivors, though, are just grateful to be alive. In Anerni, 34 people died during the earthquake. Seven remain in hospital. The rest tussle over aid deliveries in the makeshift camp. Ahmed al-Hajj, 84, stands outside what had once been his house. He had been away at the time the quake hit. Now, all that remains are ruins. His sister died in the quake. Three children were also killed, he says. He gestures to the ruined mosque, where the imam’s son was killed. Next to it rises a high mound of rubble. Close to its peak, on the remnants of a roof, blood is visible. This region will take years to recover, experts warn. But for many of its inhabitants, the damage may be permanent. Source:https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/13/in-moroccos-atlas-mountains-earthquake-survivors-search-for-loved-ones

The death toll from devastating floods in Libya’s eastern city of Derna has risen to 5,300, the country’s official news agency reported on Tuesday. In a statement, the Interior Ministry in the East Libya of the government appointed by the House of Representatives said that thousands of people are still missing, according to the news agency. “Local rescue teams are continuing the search for missing persons,” Mohamed Aboulmosha, the ministry’s media official, said and called for an “international intervention to assist in rescue efforts.” On Monday, Libya’s Presidency Council appealed to friendly countries and international aid groups to provide aid to the flood-stricken areas in the eastern region. Other cities and towns affected by the weekend catastrophe include Benghazi, Bayda, Al Marj, and Soussa. Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, the head of Libya’s Tripoli-based unity government, declared all areas exposed to the deadly flooding as disaster zones, and announced three days of national mourning. Source:https://www.nation.com.pk/13-Sep-2023/death-toll-in-libya-floods-rises-to-5-300