KARACHI: MCC Appraisement West has revoked the customs bonded carrier/customs agent license of M/s Ports Connection (Pvt) Ltd. MCC Appraisement West is the licensing authority.
The bank guarantee, defense saving certificates/security deposit submitted by them have also been forfeited. Henceforth, no documents filed by M/s Ports Connection for clearance and shipment of the goods and baggage would be acceptable.
It may be mentioned here Collector Customs Adjudication has penalized the cartel involved in pilferage of US Army/NATO/ISAF reverse cargo including hazmat waste. M/s Ports Connection has also been involved in pilferage and replacement of transshipment (TP) cargo.
The bonded carrier, clearing agent and freight forwarder have been imposed penalties but the US consulate and their focal person were not penalized due to obvious reasons, despite the fact the mastermind behind pilferage and dumping of hazmat waste in Pakistan is the focal person of US ODRP.
Directorate General of Intelligence & Investigation received information that M/s. Ports Connection (Pvt.) Itd and M/s Saryal Cargo Channel & Customs Clearing Agency in connivance of other associates were involved in the illegal removal of bonded goods from the containers of various consignments of ISAF reverse cargo meant for re-exportation from Mazar Sharif, Afghanistan to ISAF Germany through Customs Station Torkham via Port Muhammad Bin Qasim, Karachi.
It was observed that nut and bolts of the hooks on which the seals are affixed had been opened in such way that the seals remained intact while handle could move along with hook and seals remained unbroken. After pilferage of containerized cargo, the nuts and bolts are again fixed on doors through welding etc.
It may be mentioned here that there is substantial evidence that the focal person of US Consulate was directly involved in the pilferage of hazmat waste in Pakistan and even after the case was detected and authorities initiated the investigations the US Consulate protected the culprits at every step and created hurdles in the way of investigations.
It is on record that US Consulate time and again officially announced that none of their containers went missing or there was any pilferage despite the fact that Customs found several containers with concrete blocks and wooden pallets instead of acid batteries while hundreds of containers and remains of destroyed containers were found from the warehouses of M/s Bilal Associates.