BEIRUT: Crown Prince Fahd of Saudi Arabia declared in a newspaper interview published today [April 25] that the Arab countries can defeat Israel in any new Middle East war.

Asked what would be the alternative if a reconvened Arab-Israeli peace conference at Geneva failed to resolve the Middle East crisis, Crown Prince Fahd said: `We will cross that bridge when we come to it ... any way, I am confident the Arabs can repeat their October 1973 victory. ...` [The interview] took on added importance because of Prince Fahd`s leading role in the new Saudi regime of King Khalid. News agencies [Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies,] a high-level conference held in Karachi ... decided to round up all notorious smugglers of food grains, wool and hides and skin with a view to stabilising their prices at home. It was also decided that patrolling operations along the nation`s frontiers be intensified... . The Federal Interior Minister ... presided over the ... meeting. ... The meeting was of the view that a crackdown on real smugglers, and not merely their carriers, was essential at a time when Rabi harvesting was going on. ... Some of these smugglers are living outside Pakistan.