KARACHI: Pakistan Customs has formed teams to embark an action for seizing smuggled or non-paid duty vehicles plying on roads freely.
Khawar Farid Manika, Collector, Model Customs Collectorate (Preventive) has set up the teams that will be headed by Inamullah Khan Wazir, Assistant Collector, an official at Pakistan Customs.
The teams have been assigned to ensure impounding the smuggled and non-paid duty or unregistered vehicles moving freely on the roads of Karachi. One of the teams has been assigned to check such vehicles during night times because most of people possessing illegal vehicles usually bring out after sunset to escape from the checking of customs authorities.
The customs authorities also decided to give rewards to those persons who share information of such vehicles with customs officials.
Pakistan Customs has initiated the recovery of such vehicles on the directives of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and for complying Supreme Court’s order dated October 11, 2012 and interim order dated October 12, 2012, in which the apex court directed the taxation authorities for impounding the smuggled vehicles plying in the country.
The customs authorities said that about 19 luxury vehicles had been impounded till to date.
In the Balochistan case, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had informed the apex court that about 433 vehicles including motorcycles had been impounded as customs duty was not paid by the users of the same.
In its order on October 11, 2012 the apex court noted that such vehicles were being used for criminal activities by the culprits going on in Balochistan on account of which law and order situation was deteriorating day by day.
The FBR informed the court that a data of about 33,000 vehicles was being collected in respect of non-customs paid vehicles and assured the apex court that all such vehicles would be confiscated.
“The customs department shall do the needful within the period of three weeks and submit report to the registrar of this court for our perusal in Chambers,†the court remarked.