KARACHI: MCC Preventive has seized 64,000 Qmobile phones imported by M/s Digicom Trading Pvt Ltd, as these goods were mis-declared as LED lights to avoid incidence of tax and more importantly documentation of imports.
Information of Collector Preventive that mobile phones were being cleared in the garb of LED lights from green channel, and these goods were now being moved to the warehouses.
ASO Preventive during their search one container No. KKFU7255573 was found in mobile market of Saddar, Karachi. When examined the container was found to be studded with 64,000 mobile phones/tablets of brand Qmobile worth Rs350 million.
ASO Preventive is still trying to trace the remaining three containers. The consignment was imported from Jebel Ali by M/s Digicom Trading Pvt Ltd cleared from KICT.
Sources said that Qmobile was taking all measures to avoid documentation of their imports and subsequent sales.
Earlier, they used to import mobile phones and tablets through replacement of transshipment cargo and smuggling through khaipyas. It may be mentioned here that imports of Qmobile through the airport has declined significantly, as sometime bag hundreds of thousands of Qmobile were imported through airport, but now these are being imported through sea and being cleared under the garb of other things.
Markets are flooded with smuggled mobile phones and trade unions including Karachi Electronic Dealers Association (KEDA) were involved in this dirty business.
Now, Green Channel has solved all their problems. Sources said M/s Digicom was quite confident that the mobile phones would be cleared undetected from green channel in the garb of LED lights.
However, Collector Preventive Dr. Iftikhar foiled all their plans. The information regarding this fraud was also with certain other offices but only MCC Preventive took the action. Dr. Iftikhar formed a team comprising Additional Collector Aamir Theim, Deputy Collector ASO Mohammad Faisal, SPS Khalid Tabassum, IPS Sardar Yusuf and Rana Zahid, PO Tayyab Khan and others.
MCC Preventive has widened the ambit of their investigation and containers lying on ports would also be examined.
Sources said that consignment comprising more than four containers clearing through green channel, if more than one container of such consignments are examined, huge evasion on daily basis could be detected.
Sources said big companies having good profile having green channel status were abusing this facility and causing huge losses to the national exchequer.
It is interesting to note that scrap was never cleared from green channel, but now even the scrap is being cleared from green channel in the name of trade facilitation.