Asia’s largest opium factory will be restored after a decade following the directions of the caretaker Punjab government.
An ETO rank officer will be taking care of the administrative affairs of the factory as a manager as the DG Excise has been ordered to restore the factory.
An officer of Excise and Taxation department shared details about the restoration of the factory. According to him, relevant authorities will be receiving the first batch of 640 KG of opium soon.
The provincial Narcotics Control Agencies will be responsible for providing the opium to the factory.
The factory will be supplying 40 thousand per KG price A-category opium to pharmaceutical companies at market rates.
Furthermore, the B-Category opium will be destroyed as it is harmful to the human health. The factory will start functioning once the staff and arms license are issued.
It is pertinent to mention that the opium alkaloid factory was established under the Hudud Ordinance 1979 in Lahore.
However, it was closed in the year 2012 by the then Excise and Taxation Department government of Punjab as the government constantly incurred huge expenses to run this factory.