KARACHI: Customs Intelligence & Investigation Hyderabad has foiled various attempts of smuggling and seized goods worth millions.
On the directives of Director General Shaukat Ali, Director ASO Karachi Tahir Qureshi formed an special team headed by Deputy Director Haroon Malik. The team carried on several operations against the movement of smuggled and non-duty-paid goods into the country and seized goods including vehicles, black tea, beverages, cloth and lubricants.
Local industry has said the continued smuggling of goods into the country through porous ports of entry is hurting the country’s economy at the same time working against government’s policies to promote domestic products.
Despite tightening of security measures at the country’s border posts and international airports, some goods still find their way into the country due to rampant corruption.
The smuggling of goods has got a negative impact on those people who want to do business in a proper and ethical way — paying duties and so forth — in that those who smuggle have lesser costs and therefore enjoy an unfair advantage.
According to Deputy Director Haroon Malik, the staff of Customs Intelligence & Investigation on the basis of authentic information conducted successful operations and recovered mobile phone batteries worth Rs7.2 million, foreign origin cloth worth Rs3.3 million,. Similarly in other operation detergent smuggled from Afghanistan was recovered worth Rs7.5 million.
The staff of Customs Intelligence Hyderabad also seized non-duty paid vehicles and huge quantity of black tea. Several trade associations have appreciated the Customs Intelligence & Investigation for their efforts against smuggling.
It may be mentioned here that performance of Customs Intelligence Hyderabad in May 2017 is comparatively better than previous months.