GILGIT: The GilgitBaltistan Forest and Wildlife Department foiled an attempt to smuggle wild garlic, a medicinal herb plant, from Astore to Gilgit allegedly in the official vehicle of the GB chief minister`s adviser on forest and wildlife and arrested one person.

According to the wildlife staff, a major operation was conducted near the Pari Forest checkpost, where the field staff intercepted a consignment of wild garlic, weighing approximately 150kg. The street value of the consignment is estimated at Rs9 million.

An official of GB Forest and Wildlife Department told Dawn that two forest guards, Hafeezur Rehman andMujahid, posted at the checkpost on Saturday night attempted to search the two suspicious vehicles parked near Padibangla in Gilgit on the Karakoram Highway. They claimed that one of the vehicles belonged to Haji Shah Baig, the CM`s aide, whereas another was a private car.

According to the statement by the forest guards, the smugglers managed to escape the scene taking advantage of darkness after seeing the Frontier Constabulary and the forest staff. A forest guard was injured while trying to intercept these vehicles.

However, both forest guards caught one of the suspects, recovering four bags of wild garlic from his possession and subsequently handed over the seized consignment to the FC personnel at the checkpost. Therecovered herb was transferred from the forest check post to Gilgit.

According to a press release, GB Chief Minister Adviser on Forest Haji Shah Baig denied the reports and said that the reports of smuggling herbs through his official vehicle were baseless and fabricated.

He said that after taking over the portfolio of the Ministry of Forests, he started taking action against the timber mafia.He added that due to increasing action against the timber mafia, people involved in illegal forest cutting and smuggling were making baseless and fabri-cated allegations against him.

He further said that an investigation was underway into the incident. The forest and wildlife official told Dawn that the herb was smuggled from Astore and stored in Juglot, from where the smugglers had planned to move it to Gilgit.

A special committee has been formed headed by Forest and Wildlife Department`s Forests, Parks and Wildlife Chief Conservator KhadimAbbas to investigate the matter and Astore Divisional Forest Officer Khursheed Alam has been made officer on special duty.

Wild garlic is a medicinal herb found in natural forest areas as well as in Deosai. The harvest and smuggling of the herb are prohibited, but the GB Wildlife Department auctions it annually. One kg of the herb usually fetches Rs65,000.