KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue on Friday quietly transferred seven senior customs officers to a newly created anti-smuggling collectorate spanning the Indus River.
The notification, issued July 24, established the Customs Enforcement Indus Collectorate with jurisdiction over all bridges on the Indus River and a 10-kilometer radius around each, effectively giving it authority across Pakistan, including certain check posts in Karachi. The collectorate is being positioned as the FBR’s primary weapon against smuggling.
At the center of the new structure is Omar Shafique, a BS-20 officer transferred from Collector of Customs Enforcement, Karachi, to head the Indus operation. A senior customs official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss personnel matters, called Shafique “the best option” for the role.
But the transfer has drawn scrutiny because of what Shafique left behind in Karachi.
Weeks before his reassignment, Shafique had exposed and filed criminal complaints against AA International and Shareef Enterprises for massive mis-declaration of imported goods, according to customs documents reviewed by The Associated Press.
The two companies had collectively cleared more than 1,800 containers through Pakistan’s customs system, with Shareef Enterprises accounting for over 800 containers and AA International for more than 1,000, sources familiar with the investigation said.
“If Shafique had remained at Enforcement Karachi, he would have investigated past consignments of these two companies,” the official said. “That might have resulted in findings of more mis-declaration and evasion.”
The official estimated the potential revenue loss at billions of rupees.
The case has raised uncomfortable questions about the FBR’s Faceless Customs Assessment system, a reform introduced to reduce corruption by eliminating direct contact between customs officers and importers.
Critics argue the system has instead made it easier to shield fraudulent traders from accountability.
“An entire lobby of FBR high-ups are allegedly involved in protecting these two companies,” the official said. “The FCA system wasn’t designed to reduce corruption. It was designed to make it more difficult to trace who approved what.”
Particular scrutiny has fallen on the Member of Customs Operations, whom the official described as “incompetent” and overly focused on checking under-invoicing while ignoring more serious mis-declaration.
“Under-invoicing is a problem, yes,” the official said. “But mis-declaration is being actively protected. You can stop under-invoicing by checking prices. But mis-declaration requires examining what’s actually in the container. And that requires stopping consignments.”
The official also highlighted vulnerabilities in Pakistan’s Green Channel expedited clearance system, which allows trusted importers to bypass physical examination of their goods.
“After these two companies were found in massive mis-declaration, it is important that Green Channel consignments are randomly stopped and examined,” the official said. “The Green Channel was supposed to be for trusted traders. These companies have proven they cannot be trusted.”
The new Indus Collectorate comes at a time when traditional forms of smuggling have been significantly reduced. The Afghan border closure has choked one major smuggling route, while a crackdown on Iranian diesel smuggling launched on the directives of Field Marshal Asim Munir has contained road smuggling, officials said.
But the official warned that smuggling had simply shifted to the appraisement stage.
“Smuggling is going on, but through mis-declaration at appraisement,” the official said. “Instead of crossing borders with contraband, they’re bringing it in containers, declaring it as something else, and clearing it through the system.”
Shafique has previously demonstrated his ability to check smuggling conducted under the guise of transshipment, where goods enter Pakistan with the stated intention of being shipped elsewhere but are diverted into the local market.
The transfer notification, No. 1483-C-I/2026, also reassigned six other officers to the Indus Collectorate: Amjad Hussain Rajper, Dr. Tahir Iqbal Khattak, Syed Itrat Hussain, Haseeb Hassan, Akhtar Amin and Aman Sadiq.
All officers will continue to draw their performance allowance at their new postings, the notification stated.
But for Shafique, the move represents both a promotion and a strategic removal from the scene of his most damaging discoveries.
The files on Shareef Enterprises and AA International remain open. The records of 10,800 containers wait for someone willing to examine them.
The Indus Collectorate now holds that responsibility.
“Shafique had exposed these companies,” the official said. “If he’d stayed at Enforcement Karachi, he would have dug deeper. He would have examined past consignments, traced patterns of mis-declaration, and uncovered how these companies operated for years without detection.”