KARACHI: ASO of MCC Preventive Karachi has lodged an FIR against several persons for attacking Customs officials and obstructing them in the execution of their duties.
According to details,information was passed through Collector Saquif Saeed that a container loaded with smuggled cloth was parked at Danish Cloth Market, Tariq Road, Karachi.
A team was formed led by Superintendent ASO Iftikhar Hasan, which reached the spot while the cloth was being unloaded from the container.
The persons unloading the container refused to provide any documents to prove the lawful possession of the goods. Therefore, Customs staff started reloading the goods back into the container.
Meanwhile, hundreds of miscreants led by Najeeb, Abdul Khaliq, Asad, Nasir and Jumma Khan Achakzai formed a mob and obstructed Customs staff.
The mob comprising of Afghans started pelting stones and then firing on Customs staff. A sepoy was wounded and Customs staff had to rush the wounded back leaving the impugned goods behind.The mob forcibly took the goods back.
It may be mentioned here that Collector Preventive Saquif Saeed has advised the staff to focus on high value and high tariff goods as smuggling of high value goods cause the most loss to the national exchequer.
The ASO Preventive team comprising Assistant Collector Shafiullah, Superintendent Iftikhar Hasan, while Additional Collector Haroon Waqar Malik supervising has made ASO Preventive the best team, which has detected many scams and seized smuggled goods to the tune of billions of rupees.
Moreover, the present team including Saquif Saeed, Haroon Malik, Shafiullah and Superintendent Iftikhar Hasan unearthed the mega smuggling under the garb of Afghan Transit Trade, and unveiled the misuse of Green channel facility etc.
It may be mentioned here ASO Preventive seized 50 tons of Indian smuggled cloth and 25 tons of Indian smuggled yarn worth Rs140 million, as a campaign against Indian smuggled goods was launched by Collector Preventive Saquif Saeed.
The continuing operation of MCC Preventive against smuggling has hurt the unscrupulous elements, as the anti-smuggling drive has benefited local industry as well as resulted in increased legal import.