KARACHI: MCC Appraisement West and Directorate of Customs Intelligence Karachi, in a joint operation, recovered Neusat Brand High Performance C-Band PLL Single LNBF, which were imported in the garb of used clothing.[the_ad id=”31605″] The value of the seized goods is estimated at Rs37.5 million.
Information was passed through Collector Appraisement West Wajid Ali and Director Customs Intelligence Karachi Irfan Javed that a container lying at KICT declared to have used mixed clothing arrived in January 2017 actually contained huge quantity of mis-declared items, which are restricted under Import Policy in vogue.
It was also known that after arrival of the container an amendment was made whereby name of the consignee was amended from Shahzaib Enterprises to Uzair Enterprises while amendment was also made in the weight of the consignment.
The container was lying since two years and no GD had been filed, therefore the container was examined by a team comprising Additional Directors Ali Zaman Gardezi, Zubair Shah, Deputy Director Mohammad Zohaib, Deputy Collector Falak Sher, Superintendent Arif Maqsood, IOs Dilshad Khan, Muhammad Sadiq, AO Syed Ansar Hussain and LDC Touseef Hameed.
The joint examination led to recovery of Neusat Brand High Performance C-Band PLL Single LNBF sets, import of which is allowed subject to obtaining specific permission and NOC from PEMRA. A seizure report has been prepared for Adjudication proceedings.
An importer informed that several prohibited goods were imported in the garb of used clothing. The importer informed that almost all the consignments of used clothing went to a private off-dock terminal in Karachi where a terminal employee known as Zakir replaced the used clothing with other goods.
According to modus operandi, the consignments of used clothing after examination were opened at the said off-dock terminal, and the used clothing were replaced with goods of other containers which had not been examined or whose GDs had not been filed.
It was known the practice was on for a long period and contraband goods, betel nut, mobile phones, auto parts etc were smuggled in this manner causing huge loss to the national economy.
It may be recalled that former Collector Shahnaz Maqbool had detected the scam and as soon as she opted for action, she was transferred by a former Chief Collector of Appraisement South.