KARACHI: MCC Quetta has seized huge quantity of smuggled goods including auto parts, auto engines etc worth Rs19.005 million.
In pursuance of credible information received by the Collector of Customs Saeed Jadoon, which was communicated to the Mahabat Khan Assistant Collector, Preventive.
The staff of Customs mobile squad, Quetta intercepted a vehicle near Qillah Saifullah loaded with foreign origin smuggled goods. No other legal / import documents of the said goods were provided by anyone at the spot. Therefore, the customs staff took possession of the said goods along with vehicle and seized the same.
Collector Saeed Jadoon and Additional Collector Dr. Fareed Khan are keeping strict monitoring on the movement of smuggled goods. Quetta and Peshawar are two station declared highly sensitive as regards to movement of smuggled goods into the other cities.
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is pursuing a rigorous anti-smuggling campaign, which is reflected in the legal trade vis-à-vis revenue collection details.
Illegitimate trade is a menace that has multi-pronged impacts on the economy. First of all, the government is deprived of its duty/tax revenue; un-tested and sometimes hazardous products find their way into the country’s market and most importantly the local industry is faced with an unfair competition.
Another official said money made through smuggling was the prime source of funding of terrorist and anti-social elements. This is the reason that law enforcement agencies and paramilitary forces are onboard in this campaign, the official said.
According to Customs officials, a large quantity of clothing, electronics, mobile phones, auto parts, tea and cosmetics etc are smuggled into the country from Afghanistan. Mostly these goods are the same which are transported from our seaports to Afghanistan through the transit trade, the same find their way into country’s market without payment of duty and taxes. Moreover, significant quantity of petroleum products is smuggled from Iran.
Pilferage of transshipment cargo is another source of smuggling. Certain quarters import consignments under vague descriptions and file transshipment permits (TP) for different dry ports. These consignments are pilfered during the transit and distributed to local traders.