Customs seizes smuggled Indian products

Personnel of the Customs Operations in Karachi announced on Saturday the seizure of Indian products worth millions of rupees.

Irfan Ali, spokesman for the customs, said the federal government imposed an embargo on the import of Indian-origin or Indian-manufactured goods with effect from August 9, 2019, vide Para 5A(ii) of the Import Policy Order, 2016.

Despite the ban, he said, it had been observed that some unscrupulous importers kept attempting to clear Indian goods by way of concealment/mis-declaration of origin.

Chairman FBR Syed Shabbar Zaidi had earlier directed that all such attempts of circumventing origins of goods be thwarted.

Accordingly, customs operations mounted vigilance to intercept Indian-origin goods by checking all aspects of the consignment like the tracking of the container, vessel and verification of origin from the consignor.

During the course of surveillance on banned Indian imports, the appraisement collectorates in Karachi constituted cases of worth Rs169 million in the recent months.

Amongst other items, unstitched polyester fabrics, artificial jewellery, bangles, fashion accessories, bentonite goods, grinding wheels, emulsions have been apprehended and necessary legal proceedings have been initiated against the importers.

Dr Jawwad Uwais Agha, member Customs (Operations), during his visit to Karachi on Saturday, appreciated the efforts and directed the field formations to ensure strict legal action against such unscrupulous importers involved in the criminal activity of importing Indian-origin goods by way of either “switch bill of lading or origin circumvention”.