US military cargo pilfered despite timely warning

ISLAMABAD: The latest large scale en-route pilferages and theft from reverse transit cargo of US military, Nato and ISAF have occurred despite government of Pakistan’s timely warning to US embassy in Islamabad to ensure better security for such transportation from Torkham to Karachi port.
Sources said that the Office of Defense Representative Pakistan of the US Embassy in Islamabad was formally approached by the Federal Board of Revenue in March this year to make immediate foolproof arrangements for security of US/Nato/ISAF future consignments.
However, instead of improvement, the largest ever pilferages in reverse cargo of US military has occurred, which is really upsetting for the FBR authorities. Concerned US embassy officials are expected to be called by the FBR to discuss the issue and convey the government’s concerns.
Directorate General of Transit Trade had lodged on Friday two FIRs in a unique case of pilferages of non-defense reverse cargo of US Army in 22 containers during their transit from Torkham to Karachi port.
The goods, which were declared in the container at Torkham, have been found missing when the consignments reached Karachi port for onward shipment to Dubai. All the 22 containers were found empty, which means that the goods they were carrying were offloaded inside Pakistan.
Those nominated in these FIRs include bonded carrier M/s. Port Connection (Pvt) Ltd and the authorized agents M/s Peerzada Service International, M/s Ghani’s International and M/s Multitrans Logistics (Pvt) Ltd. The bonded carrier M/s Connection was engaged by the US embassy and thus it is the carrier and embassy’s responsibility to ensure the secure transit of the cargo.It is interesting to note that some of those booked in the latest FIRs were also reflected in the past FIRs of the FBR but yet they were not disengaged by the US embassy.
M/s Ghani’s International, which is an authorized representative of US embassy, had submitted its case for clearance of 22 containers of US Army reverse cargo. These containers were declared to have contained huge power generators and other accessories for transit to Karachi Port for export to Dubai. However, when these containers reached Karachi port they were found empty.
This latest incident happened despite March 3, 2015 letter written by the FBR to the US embassy and the subsequent meetings between the two sides.The letter written to the Office of Defense Representative Pakistan, US Embassy by FBR’s Directorate General Transit Trade, Customs House Karachi focussed on the subject “En-route pilferage and theft from reverse transit cargo of US military/Nato/ISAF”.
The operative part of the FBR’s letter to US embassy reads as: “Your attention is drawn towards the cases of theft/pilferage in retrogate consignments of NATA/ISAF, detected by this Directorate General. So far four (04) such cases have been detected where similar modus-operandi was found, as the culprits had en-route replaced the actual contents with cement blocks and wooden logs etc. Legal action against those involved including registration of criminal cases and adjudication proceedings has been initated by this Directorate General…”
The letter added, “The Office of the Defense Representative in Pakistan is requested to take immediate notice and action as under: (a) The matter may be investigated to assist this Directorate General; (b) Immediate arrangements be worked out for security of retro consignments against any future cases of theft which may include deputing private security and convoy movement.”
The US embassy was requested that this issue of pilferages should be given urgent attention. The FBR’s letter also includes an annexure of the pre-March 3, 2015 cases registered in this regard. The information shared includes the details of four FIRs registered in the past. In one case against the declared material mud bags were found at Karachi Port. In another case against the declared “transformers”, the containers at Karachi Port were found to have cement blocks and empty wooden logs.
In another case, 2 units of empty fuel tank, cables and screen instructed were declared to be transited but the cargo when checked at Karachi Port was containing cement blocks and emplty wooden logs. In another case, it was declared that batteries wet filled with acid were being transported but when checked at Karachi Port, the shipment was found containing cement blocks and wooden pallets.
The FIRs were lodged against M/s Waterlink (Pvt) Ltd, Al-Tajir & Ci (Pvt) Ltd and Ports Connection (Pvt) Ltd. To the disappointment of the FBR, one of these carriers is again found involved in the latest pilferage.