Belgium, Germany seize 5 tonnes of hashish-police

BERLIN, Sep 26 (Reuters) A joint German and Belgian police investigation has led to the seizure of some five tonnes of marijuana resin sent from Pakistan this month alone, Germany's BKA federal police said today.

They said 2.4 tonnes of hashish -- resin derived from the marijuana plant -- was confiscated over a week ago by Belgian police at Antwerp airport. Police seized another 2.5 tonnes earlier in September in Belgium.

''After around 2.5 tonnes of hashish were seized on September 4 on the Belgian side of the border with Germany and the Netherlands, there was a second blow dealt to international organised drug trafficking on September 19,'' a BKA statement said.

Since July, German prosecutors have been investigating Pakistani and Afghan groups suspected of smuggling large quantities of hashish to Europe from the north west frontier area in Pakistan.

Germany seized 3.6 tonnes of hashish last year in roughly 13,000 cases.

REUTERS SRS RAI0216