Customs foils bid to smuggle Indian goods worth Rs11.03 million

The Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) Appraisement (East) foiled a bid to smuggle Indian goods worth Rs11.03 million, detecting misdeclaration in three consignments of alleged used clothing involving government revenue to the tune of Rs16.49 million.

The consignment of metallic yarn declared of China origin, shipped from the Jebel Ali port, UAE, was confirmed to be manufactured by Sumilon Industries, Surat, Gujrat, India.

In another instance, three consignments declared to contain used clothing revealed glass chatons, cosmetics, kitchenware and other goods upon examination, involving attempted evasion of duty and taxes to the tune of Rs16.49 million.

Muhammad Irfan, spokesman for the Customs said that in a robust show of vigilance, the MCC Appraisement (East) Karachi thwarted an attempt to smuggle Indian goods worth Rs11.03 million.

Similarly, three consignments declared to contain used clothing were seized and examined by the collectorate, leading to the detection of attempted evaded amount of duty and taxes to the tune of Rs16.49 million, leviable on goods found during examination, such as prayer mats, glass chatons, cosmetics, kitchenware and other high-value goods, against the declaration made by the importer.

A consignment of metallic yarn was confirmed to be manufactured by Sumilon Industries, Surat, Gujrat, India. The fake and forged import documents submitted by the importer to the Customs authorities at the MCC Appraisement (East), including the bill of lading, invoice and certificate of origin (purportedly issued in the UAE) showed the origin as China.

However, upon detailed scrutiny of the documents, the Customs staff suspected that the goods may be of Indian origin imported via the Jebel Ali port in order to hoodwink the authorities and get clearance of Indian goods otherwise not importable.

The suspicions of the Custom authorities at the MCC Appraisement (East) were confirmed upon the examination of the goods, wherein it was found that while the goods did not have any indication prima facie to reveal their true origin, the inside of the yarn bobbins had “Sumilon, Surat” printed or stamped on them, thus rendering the goods worth Rs11.03 million and subject to duty and taxes to the tune of Rs5.143 million not importable in terms of the Import Policy Order in vogue.

Further inspection of the matter revealed that Sumilon Industries are India-based manufacturers of metallic yarn producing export-quality yarn for supply to multiple countries, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Since the Pakistani government has prohibited the import of goods of Indian origin or from India through the Statutory Regulatory Order 927(I)/2019, dated August 9, 2019, amending the then existing Import Policy Order 2016, thus putting goods of Indian origin or imported from India on the same footing as Israel, the Customs authorities are on high alert in cross-checking the origin of goods that had previously been regularly imported from India.

Similarly, upon credible information received by the MCC Appraisement (East) collector, three consignments of alleged used clothing were examined and detailed scrutiny of the containers showed that the importers had attempted to get clearance of goods such as prayer mats, glass chatons, cosmetics, kitchenware and other high-value items in the garb of used clothing.

This gross misdeclaration by the importers, if gone undetected, would have deprived the national exchequer of legitimate amount of revenue to the tune of Rs16.49 million.

The Collectorate has tightened its grip against unscrupulous elements involved in smuggling and tax evasion, these recent developments being a succession of similar proceedings initiated against malicious elements misusing the green channel facility.