KARACHI: R&D of MCC Appraisement West has lodged an FIR against Muhammad Yousaf of M/s Premium Enterprises, Muhammad Nihal Rafi and others for importing restricted goods through misdeclaration of description and classification of goods.
According to the details of the case, M/s Premium Enterprises imported a consignment from China declared to be tyre and tube with flaps. The consignment was selected for examination by the WeBOC system. Meanwhile, the importer filed an application that the shipper had made an error in loading and they stuffed other goods having different sizes than declared and sought permission to re-file the GD.
Muhammad Nihal Rafi appeared before AC MIS requesting the cancellation of the GD. However, AC MIS kept her decision pending till the outcome of the examination of the goods.
Under the supervision of Additional Collector Zubair Shah, Deputy Collector Jahanzaib Abbasi, Assistant Collector R&D Ali Muhtesim and Appraising Officer Ghani Soomro conducted the examination of the consignment led to recovery of 53.9 tons of betel nut packed in jute bags. The importer did not have the required permits and certificates for betel nut import.
The malafide of the importer is evident from the fact that as soon they found out about the examination, they made an effort to cancel the goods declaration by giving a false and fabricated reason.
An FIR is lodged, Muhammad Nihal Rafi is arrested and further investigations are underway.
It may be mentioned here that import/smuggling of restricted goods as well as high value goods is continuing through the Customs and gross misuse of Green Channel facility. Sources said that with the assistance of Customs officials, the unscrupulous elements are defrauding the system for a long time.
An official said that the accused paid duty taxes of over Rs5 million hoping the system would mark the consignment to green or yellow channel.
It may be mentioned here that MCC Appraisement East recently lodged an FIR against a company for attempting to clear high value goods through mis-declaration.
The official said a proper monitoring of Green Channel and random examination of consignment passing through Green Channel should be conducted to avoid misuse of the facility.
An official said a mega scam was detected some time back wherein restricted as well high value goods were cleared in the garb of used clothing causing loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer. The case was referred to NAB, but the accountability authorities struck a plea bargain and gave a clean chit to the accused including Customs officers after receiving just a fraction of the looted money.