Rangers, Customs seize smuggled items worth millions of rupees

The Sindh Rangers and the Pakistan Customs on Friday seized smuggled items worth millions of rupees.

According to a Rangers spokesman, the Rangers conducted an intelligence-based raid with the assistance of the Customs in an area which is on the border of Sindh and Balochistan. Non-custom paid items, including betel nuts, were confiscated during the raid, he said.

The contraband items were planned to be smuggled to Lahore and Multan in a truck from Quetta, he added.

The approximate value of the seized items was about 51.47 millions, the spokesman said, adding that the items were 850 cartons of platinum cigarettes, 148 cartons of different cigarettes and 64 bags of betel nuts. The seized items were later handed to the Customs Authorities for a legal action, he said.

Three suspects held

The Anti-Vehicle Lifting Cell (AVLC) claimed to have arrested three suspects who were alleged to be involved in the snatching of vehicles. In a statement, the AVLC said they carried out the raid in North Nazimabad area from where they arrested the three men involved in lifting vehicles.

During the search of their hideout, the statement said, they found one snatched vehicle, a Shehzor truck which was stolen from Gulshan-e-Maymar. The arrested suspects were identified as Shah Murad, Ghulam Hussain Shar and Akbar Ali Arain, it said.

The statement said a pistol was found in the possession of Ghulam Hussain Shar. During an investigation, it was found that that the suspects had snatched the Shahzor truck from Northern Bypass on January 5 this year and an FIR had been registered at the Gulshan-e-Maymar police station in this regard, the statement said.

It said the arrested suspects used to hire loading trucks to transport the vehicles they would snatch at gunpoint in deserted places on Northern Bypass. These suspects had criminal records and had been arrested earlier too, it said. It was suspected that they had committed seven to eight crimes of the similar nature, the statement said, adding that five FIRs had been found in this regard.