Inquiry initiated into ‘officials selling seized betel nuts’

Customs Intelligence and Investigation Director General (DG) Zahid Khokhar has initiated an inquiry into the alleged trade of betel nuts in open market after the completion of seizure formalities by Customs officials.

Official sources said Khokhar received a complaint through email in which it was narrated that the Anti-Smuggling Organisation (ASO) staff of the Directorate General of Intelligence & Investigation-Customs, Karachi, in collaboration with the police staff of Kharadar seized smuggled betel nuts from some shops in Jodia Bazaar on the evening of November 1.

It was claimed in the email that the seized betel nuts were loaded on some private vehicles and brought to the Kharadar police station without calculating their mass. Staff of the directorate on the instructions of an ASO superintendent reached the police station and took the betel nuts in its custody.

The betel nuts loaded on 13 vehicles were then taken to the weighment bridge at Gulbai so that they could be weighed before they were deposited at a warehouse in the SITE area.

The mass of the betel nuts was found to be 25,993 kilogrammes, the email claimed. It added that Customs officials and police in connivance with each other showed the weight of the betel nuts as 16,093 kg and sold 9,900 kg in the open market for Rs5 million.

The suspects were arrested and later released against personal bond.

The sender of the email also attached a copy of the police report and registration record of the vehicles on which the betel nuts were loaded and their weight calculated at the bridge for reference and record.

“The seizing agency has misappropriated the recovered betel nuts to the tune of 9,900 kg and had divided the material gains among themselves,” the sender claimed.

Commenting on the case, the Customs Intelligence DG said he had initiated an inquiry into the allegation as soon as it came into his notice and he had sought a report in the earliest possible time. He added that to prevent such acts in the future, the Customs was planning to put checks in place.

Meanwhile, Karachi Additional IG Ghulam Nabi Memon has also taken notice of the allegation and appointed Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Sharjeel Kharal of South Range as the inquiry officer, tasking him with submitting a report on Monday.