Karachi: Dozens of yarn containers imported from Dubai are lying unclaimed at Customs Appraisement West, East and Port Qasim, after a hold was placed on yarn consignments from UAE.
The Customs Intelligence and Investigation (I&I) Karachi had put a hold on yarn consignments that were imported from UAE under false declarations of origin and were actually Indian.
According to sources, the I&I Karachi received a tip-off that some importers were importing yarn from India, which is manufactured at Kola in India, and then re-exporting it to UAE, where it is declared as Thailand origin. The importers then obtained a letter from Dubai Chamber of Commerce, which falsely certified that the yarn had come from Thailand. However, no country can confirm the origin of the goods originated in a third country, they can only confirm their own products only.
The I&I Karachi asked all terminal operators to hold all the consignments of yarn coming from Jebel Ali and UAE, and verify the origin of the yarn and the bill of lading (BL) from Thailand, as well as the import general manifest (IGM) number from Thailand.
On the instructions of Director General Faiz Ahmed, these proceedings were initiated by Director Engineer Habib Ahmed, Additional Director Inamullah Wazir, Deputy Director Saifullah and Principal Appraiser Muhammad Qadeer, who investigated and detected this foul play.
The Collector Appraisement West Irfan Wahid and Additional Collector Javed Sarwar Shaikh processed five GDs of 15 containers of yarn consignments and lifted the hold on them on the request of the importer and allowed them to be bonded. However, the ex-bond GDs are still on hold by the Appraisement and I&I.
The documents provided by the importers, including the Chambers of Commerce letter and payment details, were checked out from the shipping lines. But the importers could not provide any evidence of the goods being moved from Thailand to Dubai.