Customs destroys Rs300mn contraband goods

The Pakistan Customs, ahead of International Customs Day, destroyed confiscated goods worth Rs300 million on Monday.

Irfan Ali, spokesman for the customs, said that ahead of International Customs Day and to carry out the legacy of destroying confiscated goods of contraband nature in January, the Directorate of Intelligence & Investigation (Customs) destroyed contraband goods in light of Para 34 of the CGO 12/2002. The following items were destroyed.

The goods included 172,980 kilograms of betel nuts, 118,002 packets of Indian gutka, 37,165 boxes of foreign cigarettes, 24,259 kilograms of monosodium glutamate (Chinese salt) and 2,250 kilograms of cutch block. These contraband goods are either banned or are unfit for human consumption and cause health hazards.

The destruction ceremony was hosted by Director Customs Intelligence Hyderabad Dr Sadiqullah Khan. He was accompanied by Additional Director Jamshed Ali Talpur, Deputy Director Syed Muhammad Raza Naqvi and staff of the directorate.

The ceremony was attended by Deputy Commissioner Hyderabad Fuad Ghaffar Soomro, Wing Commander 73 Wing Sindh Rangers Lt-Col Salman Rasheed, President Hyderabad Small Traders Association and Small Industries Chamber Saleemuddin Qureshi, the ASP Hyderabad Cantt, the ANF assistant director, the ISI deputy director, Additional Collector MCC Hyderabad Ehsan Ali Shah, the director press information department, a representative of the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency, a delegation of Rotary International Hyderabad chapter, MPA Abbas Jaffri, members of civil society and media persons.

At the end of the ceremony, shields were presented by Dr Sadiqullah Khan to the deputy commissioner of Hyderabad, the wing commander 73 Wing Sindh Rangers and the president of the Hyderabad Small Traders Chamber of Commerce.

Merit certificates were also presented to the officers and staff of the directorate for their outstanding performance throughout the year.