DADU, April 22: The food department officials have taken into custody 26 trucks loaded with wheat bags on Indus Highway near Sehwan on Tuesday.

The wheat was being transported illegally from Dadu and Jamshoro districts to other parts of the province.

The district food controller of Dadu had also cancelled 200 wholesale and retail licences of wheat traders due to smuggling.

On the directives of the provincial food minister, a team of food department officials, led by Dadu district food controller Rafique Ahmed Shahani had established a camp on Indus Highway near Sehwan and recovered 6149 bags of wheat from 26 trucks and trailers when it was being smuggled to other areas.

Rafique told Dawn that 200 wholesale and retail licences of wheat traders had been cancelled in Dadu and Jamshoro districts for smuggling and hoarding of wheat.

He said that the teams had been constituted to curtail wheat smuggling from Dadu and Jamshoro districts.

In Mirpurkhas, District Food Controller Nasrullah Chandio with DDO revenue Jawad Akram and heavy contingent of police conducted a raid at Siddique Flour Mill located in industrial area of Mirpur-khas on Monday night and seized all illegally stocked wheat.

DFC cancelled the licence and sealed off the mill.

Nasrullah told reporters that he had caught two trucks of this mill loaded with wheat bags two days ago which were going to Karachi.

He said that owner of the mill did not produced any record of his stock and it appeared that the owner, Haji Iqbal, instead of grinding wheat, was transporting the grain to open market.

He further said that he had cancelled all food grain licences in the Mirpurkhas and Umerkot districts as he was holding the charge of two districts.

He said that he would recommend the government to black list the flour mill so that its next year’s wheat quota might be cancelled.

He said that all illegal stock of wheat of this mill would go into the government’s stock and its payment would be made to the owner of the mill.

He warned black marketeers and hoarders that stern action would be taken against them as the operation had been launched in Mirpurkhas and Umerkot districts.