FIA modalities to raid smugglers

LAHORE
Following the decision of the Lahore High Court in favour of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) over jurisdiction issue between the FIA and the Customs authorities, the Director FIA Punjab has suggested various modalities to conduct raids against smugglers.
In a letter dated April, 21, 2015 written to Director General FIA, Additional Director Generals FIA and Directors FIA of all zones, Director FIA Punjab Dr Usman Anwar citing various decisions of the Supreme Court and the LHC including the recent one has suggested pre-requisites for the raids under Customs Act, 1969.
In the letter, Dr Usman wrote: “Before conducting a raid, coordination is required with the Customs authorities, if they refuse then FIA can conduct raid under the powers given in section 3 and 5 of the FIA Act. If a raid to be conducted on a godown or shop, search warrant is essential. Notice under section 171 of the Customs Act 1969 is to be served to the accused at the spot as this is mandatory and notice under section 5 of the FIA Act is to be served to the accused.”
He further suggested: “If any Customs Officer is found involved, Prevention of Corruption Act 1947 is to be incorporated along with Customs Act 1969. After the seizure of goods, the seized items are to be deposited in the nearest State Ware House of the Customs”. According to the letter, seizure report is to be submitted with the adjudicating officer of Customs within 60 days from the date of seizure. Two separate challans are to be submitted if the case has been made under Customs Act and Anti Corruption Act.
It is pertinent to mention here that soon after Assistant Director FIA Asif Ali Mian along with his team conducted a raid on February 20, 2015 and seized a huge quantity of allegedly smuggled items from a container coming from Quetta and later from a godown situated at Misri Shah, Lahore, a legal battle had broken out between the Customs and FIA authorities over the jurisdiction issue. The accused persons, nominated in the FIR, had also challenged the FIA authority of taking actions against them, saying only Customs officials could take such actions against them.
The accused had approached the LHR stating that FIA had no jurisdiction to interfere into the matter and only the Customs authorities were competent to deal with such cases. But the LHC, a few days back, while rejecting the petitioners ‘claim had announced its verdict in favor of the FIA authorities.
It is also learnt that these modalities/suggestions were also discussed during a recent held meeting of the DG FIA with the all FIA directors. The DG, it is further learnt, after endorsing the suggestions, has directed FIA officials to conduct more anti-smuggling cases throughout the country.