Customs slows down anti smuggling actions in Karachi

KARACHI: The Anti Smuggling Squad of Pakistan Customs has considerably slowed down its active campaigning causing, hurting revenues heavily, sources told the scribe.

The Anti Smuggling squad of Pakistan Customs was very active during the entire 2020 drawing healthy impact over the FBR’s revenue collection that was also acknowledged by the Prime Minister Imran Khan. Despite the slowdown of business activities in the country due to corona epidemic and lock down, imports from the legal channels increased only due to a constant crackdown by the Pakistan Customs against the smugglers.

But surprisingly the Customs slowed down its anti smuggling drive since the beginning of the new calendar year resulting in the drastic decrease in the revenue collection as imports duty, sources told the scribe.. According to the figures available to this scribe, the Pakistan Customs in Karachi seized the goods from the smugglers worth Rs 1502.60 million during the first quarter of 2020 as compared to goods seized worth Rs 476.24 million in the first quarter of this year.

In the first quarter of last year 38,928 Dandas of smuggled cigarettes were seized worth of 31.88 million while this year in the same period, only 500 Dandas of imported cigarettes worth of 0.5 million were seized, sources confirmed.

Similarly, crackdown against Gutka mafia., the anti smuggling squad of Pakistan Customs in Karachi seized 292,065 kgs of beetle nuts worth of Rs 233.65 during the first quarter of 2020 while this year the it seized only 18,960 kg worth Rs 22.06 million.