Karachi: The Customs authorities in Karachi have seized a consignment of high value goods worth Rs.100 million that were being smuggled into the country under the cover of ‘Used Household Items and Personal Effects’. The goods included laptops, vapes, watches, oil and other items that were different from the invoice and packing list uploaded by the importer.
The consignment, which was declared to have originated from Jebel Ali, UAE, was cleared on the basis of an exemption certificate issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) Islamabad. However, the Directorate of Intelligence & Investigation and the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) placed the container under hold on suspicion that it contained undeclared consumer goods and/or liquor/chemical.
The ANF sought permission from the MoFA to physically examine the consignment. After getting approval, the ANF opened the container but did not find any liquor or other scheduled items. They then handed over the consignment to the Collectorate of Customs Appraisement (West), Karachi for further investigation.
On the directives of Collector Appraisement (West) Sana Ullah Abro , Additional Collector Javaid Sarwer Sheikh formed a team under the supervision of Deputy Collector Jawad Virk and comprising Principal Appraiser Amjad Iqbal, Appraising officer Mujahid Khetran and I.O Adil Javed to conduct a detailed examination of the goods, and found that they were different from the items mentioned in the documents provided by the importer. The total value of the goods was determined to be US$ 1.205 million involving duty and taxes of Rs. 100 million approximately, which was much higher than the declared value of US$ 9,900.
The consignment was seized. The clearing agent M/s S.S.S. Enterprises and the shipping agent RAH Shipping & Logistics were booked for committing an offence of clearance of high value/restricted goods through irrelevant/fake documents by misdeclaration of goods in the garb of exempted cargo. A First Information Report (FIR) was lodged and further process is underway.
An official said on the instructions of COAS Asim Munir, all sensitive agencies are cooperating with Customs and the anti-smuggling campaign is in full swing.
DG I&I Faiz Ahmed had started the crackdown on smuggling in the garb of diplomatic consignments, and then MCC Appraisement East, MCC Appraisement West and MCC Port Qasim tightened the noose around smugglers. These three collectorates have put 8 diplomatic consignments on hold.