SWABI: A drug peddler was injured during an exchange of fire with the police, while three other peddlers, including an Afghan, were arrested and a large quantity of charas and ice drug was recovered from them here, according to a press release issued by the police here on Saturday.

An alleged drug dealer was critically injured in an exchange of fire with the police during a pre-dawn raid in the jurisdiction of Kalu Khan police station, district police officer Ziauddin Ahmad said.

He said the police also recovered 400 grams of ice, a pistol with cartridges from the suspect.

Also, the Topi police stopped a suspicious motorcyclist during a roadblockand recovered four packets of hashish weighing over four kg.

Meanwhile, an inter-provincial accused Alauddin, a resident of Afghanistan, was arrested with 371 grams of ice drug. Another accused, Aziz Khan, a resident of Khunda, was arrested with 401 grams of ice.

FIRE PUT OUT: A fire that had broken out at a tobacco warehouse was brought under control after 60 hours of struggle by firefighters on Saturday, Rescue 1122 officials said.

Lugman Khan, a rescue official, said the fire had broken out at a three-storey warehouse stacked with White Patta tobacco and its stems.

District emergency officer Owais Babar, who was leading the rescue effort, said: `Our team will remain on the spot until the cooling process is complete.

EXCESSIVE RAINS: Excessive rain and frequent floods have badly affected the maize crop cultivation here, farmers belonging to various regions complainedon Saturday.

Sherin Khan, a grower from Maneri Bala village, told Dawn that he did not experience such harsh weather in his 70-year life.

`How can corn be grown when the rainwater is standing in the fields,` he said.

The farmers said there were many low-lying areas where it will be very difficult to grow maize this year.

Mudassir Khan of Chota Lahor said during the last one month they have not had the opportunity to sow the corn seed due to excessive rains.

Iqbal Khan Shewa, central vice-chairman of Ittehad Kashtkaran, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said successive governments failed to support farmers in mitigating their losses due to extreme weather events.

The farmers demanded that both the federal and provincial governments should provide financial support to help them meet input costs and make up for the losses caused by extreme weather conditions.