LANDI KOTAL: The security forces stopped over 100 Afghanistan-bound overloaded trucks at the Tal(hta Beg checkpost and asked the drivers to offload excess weight from their vehicles.

Official sources said that the Frontier Corps personnel posted at the Takhta Beg checkpost, an entry point into Khyber Agency from Peshawar, took the action against transporters violating weight rules after receiving complaints about the deteriorating condition of the PeshawarTorkham highway due to vehicles carrying weight beyond the prescribed limit.

A statement issued on Wednesday said that wing commander of Tochi Scouts had directed transporters that from June 11 onwards no overloaded goods truck would be allowed to ply on the Peshawar-Torkham highway. It said that overloaded vehicles had seriously damaged the highway and corrective measures were required to save it from deterioration.

`The FC deployed at Takhta Beg and the Khyber Khasadar force have been asl(ed by the wing commander concerned that only those trucks be allowed to go ahead which do not have loads above the body and out of tail of the vehicle,` the statement said.

Sources said that the 45-kilometre road from Wazir Dhand in Jamrud to Torkham had rutted at an at least six points due to vehicles carrying excess load. Around 500 vehicles take trade goods to Afghanistan via the Khyber Pass daily with most of them being overweight, said officials.

The National Highway Authority, which is responsible for maintenance of the road, had established a weigh station near Sur Kamar in Jamrud to check weight of every truck, trailer and container plying on the road.

The NHA officials said that they allowed weight up to 58 tons, the prescribed limit for all such highways. They said that NHA had no provision for storing excess goods stuffed in Afghanistan-bound vehicles and as such they imposed fines and allowed the vehicles to proceed towards Torkham border.

They, however, said that they had taken up the matter with the Frontier Works Organisation to repair the road as it had guaranteed quality of the road for one year after its handing over to NHA.

The NHA officials denied knowledge of who issued the orders to FC of stopping the vehicles. Meanwhile, the transporters expressed dismay over the sudden action by the FC personnel. They said that some vehicles with even less weight but bulging goods were also stopped at the Takhta Beg checkpost.

Meanwhile, security forces intercepted three vehicles loaded with trade goods and fruits on suspicion of carrying explosive material near Jamrud Bazaar on Wednesday.

Sources said that the three Afghanistan-bound trucks were stopped by security forces after information about presence of explosives. The goods were offloaded from the trucks, but there was no information yet about presence of explosives in the trucks.