Curb on tyres smuggling urged

KARACHI: Local tyre industry seeks government support in addressing challenges including smuggling and evasion of taxes, documenting the economy, and the Import Trade Price (ITP) values.

General Tyre CEO/MD Hussain Kuli Khan, in a statement on Wednesday, said the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) should make sure no tyres without documents were sold in the market. FBR should raid the markets and seize the tyres that the dealers do not have papers for.

“Smuggled tyres are being sold openly in the commercial centres,” he added.

Speaking of putting checks on the Afghan Transit Trade (ATT), Khan said, “In stage one, the government should re-evaluate the data of the items being imported via the ATT, and see if the numbers of tyres being imported are supported by the vehicle population in Afghanistan.”

He informed that under the guise of ATT, items were either unloaded in Karachi or come back from the Afghan border via smuggling. “This needs to be addressed and the customs department needs to ensure that this facility is not misused.”

Iran was also a major centre of smuggled tyres, so on the routes coming from Taftan, Iran, the government should install check posts to monitor the situation.