KARACHI: A customs appellate bench of High Court of Sindh (SHC) hearing a Special Custom Reference Application (SCRA) filed by Directorate of Intelligence & Investigations (DIT) Pakistan Customs while suspending order of the Custom Appellate Tribunal in smuggled Laptops case ordered issuance of notices to the respondents for a date to be fixed by the office of the court. Khalid Mehmood Rajpar Advocate appeared for the applicant department.
As per details DIT got information about dumping of smuggled foreign origin laptops at Shop No 70, Central Plaza, Karachi at which a search warrant was obtained from concerned court of Civil Judge & Judicial Magistrate South and raid was conducted on 20.2.2023. The shop owned by respondent Abdul Bari was locked at the time of raid. No body came forward to claim the ownerships of goods after which customs issued a notice to the respondent/owner who obtained bail and then joined the investigation. The respondent/owner claiming ownership before custom authorities claimed to have purchase the laptops from local market at Quetta. The Order in Original was passed and goods remained confiscated at which respondent/owner filed an appeal before the Custom Appellate Tribunal.
The Member Judicial–III of Custom Appellate Tribunal heard the case although the goods were valued over Rupees 5 Million. The tribunal ruled in favor of the appellant/owner which was challenged in the instant SCRA.
The bench after hearing Khalid Mehmood Rajpar Advocate suspended the operation of the judgment of the tribunal while office was directed to issue notices for a date to be fixed by the office of the court.