KARACHI: Anti-Smuggling Organization (ASO) of MCC Preventive Karachi has lodged an FIR against Chairman Tariq Road Action Committee Asad Aman and others for housing smuggled cloth weighing 13 tons and attacking the Customs staff with fire arms.
Information was received through Collector Preventive Saquib Saeed to the effect that considerable quantity of smuggled and non-duty paid foreign origin fabric is dumped in the corridors of Designer Mall, Tariq Road, Karachi, and the same is likely to be removed from that place shortly.
Accordingly a team headed by the Deputy Collector Akbar Jan and comprising Superintendent Jamal Zia, IPS Iftikhar Hasan and others was constituted.
After completing the due formalities, Customs team entered the premises of Designer Mall and found large quantity of assorted brand rolls of foreign origin fabric. Since no one came to claim the ownership of the goods, the same were loaded in hired vehicles for shifting to state warehouse for examination and completion of further legal formalities.
Meanwhile saboteur elements started gathering and blocked the entrance and exit of the said premises. Furthermore they started firing at the Customs staff and laborers. Resultantly the Customs staff also had to start aerial firing in their defense and to avoid happening of any untoward incident and to disperse the miscreants.
During firing by the miscreants one of the laborers namely Dhani Buksh who was hired by the Customs team for shifting of the recovered goods had got severely injured due to the firing of mob miscreants.
Subsequently the mob also took over possession of one official Customs vehicle and damaged that badly. In this situation Customs team avoided any further untoward situation and decided to move back with the goods so shifted in the hired vehicles.
It was established that the seized cloth worth Rs10.6 million was smuggled and liable to confiscation. An FIR is lodged against the miscreants led by Asad Aman and others and investigations are underway.
It may be mentioned here that after the incident the owners of the smuggled goods and miscreants called on Governor Sindh Imran Ismail, who assured them that if the goods were legally imported, no action would be taken.
It may be mentioned here that Prime Minister Imran Khan is personally supervising the anti-smuggling campaign and has advised the Customs authorities to take no pressure at all and continue the crackdown on the menace of smuggling.
Deputy Collector Akbar Jan has been quite efficient against smuggling and detected mega smuggling scams. Some time back, he was transferred after an operation was conducted against smuggled goods, however his transfer was withdrawn on the recommendations of PM House.