KARACHI: The Anti-Smuggling Organization (ASO) of MCC Preventive Karachi led by Deputy Collector Akbar Jan has recovered large quantity of smuggled goods including betel nuts from warehouses at Jodia Bazar Karchi.
In pursuance of the directives of Collector Preventive Saquib Saeed to eliminate trade (sale and purchase) of smuggled goods, ASO team led by IPS Iftikhar Hasan raided certain warehouses in Jodia Bazar and seized 16 tons of smuggled goods.
Deputy Collector Akbar Jan has been quite efficient against smuggling and trade in smuggled goods, Jan recently raided Jama Cloth and caught red-handed truck full of smuggled goods. Deputy Collector Akbar Jan also unearthed a mega scam wherein Afghan transit trade goods (high value) were being replaced with low value and low tariff goods during transit. It was such an organized scam that in the WeBOC system, the transit trade vehicle were shown as crossing the border, but in fact the vehicles never left Pakistan.
Chief Collector Wasif Memon and Saquib Saeed have requested FBR that Deputy Collector Akbar Jan is kept at ASO Preventive and his transfer orders are reversed, as transfer of Akbar Jan would weaken anti-smuggling campaign.
It may be mentioned here that smuggled goods are transported from Quetta to the rest of the country through three different routes.
Such goods are moved from Vinder katcha area to Dorjee to Mangopir and then via Northern bypass to Yusuf Goth. The smuggled goods are covered with bijri and crush.
The second routes leads the smuggled goods to Hyderabad via Quetta to Sibi, Bolan to Jhatput, Jacobabad to Sukkur and then Kashmore to Hyderabad. These goods are then moved to Yusuf Goth in Karachi easily.
Third route leads to Lahore wherein goods are moved via Noor Elahi, Zhob Road, D.G Khan and then Lahore, from Lahore these are distributed in Punjab and transported to Karachi and dumped at Yusuf Goth.
The smuggled goods from Quetta are primarily transported in passenger buses to Karachi and other parts of the country. It was known that Rs340,000 is paid as bribe to various law enforcement and security agencies for safe transit of these carrier bus.
These goods are then supplied on Suzuki pickups. Sources said certain contractors namely Mannan, Anwer, Saleem Shah, Esa Gul, Najeeb, Allauddin, owned hundreds of Suzuki Pickups, were the distributors of the smuggled goods including cloth, betel nut, electronics, blankets, auto parts, spices, dry fruits and other miscellaneous goods.