Customs foils bid to smuggle betel nuts, Iranian diesel

Personnel of the Pakistan Customs Enforcement Karachi foiled a smuggling bid and seized 5,000 kilograms of betel nuts and Iranian diesel.

Syed Irfan Ali, a spokesman for the Customs, said that in line with the directions of Basit Maqsood Abbasi, collector of the Customs Enforcement, to curb the menace of smuggling, the additional collector of customs had directed the Anti-Smuggling Organisation to keep extra vigilance on the movement of illicit and contraband goods coming from Balochistan to Karachi and going out of Karachi to upcountry.

In pursuance of credible information that a huge quantity of smuggled goods, including POL and betel nuts, loaded on different vehicles, would be smuggled from Balochistan to Karachi, the ASO staff posted at the Hamdard Post Point, Northern Bypass, intercepted two vehicles containing betel nuts weighing 5,000 kilograms and 5,500 litres Iranian diesel.

The goods were seized under Section 168 of the Customs Act, 1969, and a notice under Section 171 was issued. The market value of the goods is Rs22.5 million. Over the last one week, the efforts of the Collectorate have resulted in seizures of smuggled and illicit goods including 5,700kg betel nuts, 25,000 litres of Iranian petrol and diesel and other miscellaneous electronic goods amounting to Rs45 million (market value).

Moreover, special measures have been taken to seize NCP vehicles, cars and jeeps. The Collectorate of Customs Enforcement has seized 17 non-customs paid vehicles worth Rs64 million during the last one week. The total value of seized vehciles is Rs131.5 million.

The Collector of Customs Enforcement appreciated the extra efforts of the ASO in these remarkable cases and directed them to enhance their performance through vigorous planning, discipline and team work.

The spokesman for Customs said that it is informed that on the night of May 9 at 11:55pm, a passenger namely Mubariz Mehmood, bearing Passport # 744844, was identified on suspicion by scanner operator of Customs at the Karachi airport.

Subsequently, the passenger was intercepted by Customs staff for thorough physical examination of his luggage. Upon examination 27 (9mm) bullets alongwith a magazine were found in his luggage.