KARACHI: As many as 34 importers evaded taxes and duties worth Rs 24 billion in nine years from 2005 to 2014 through Transit Permits pilferage fraud.
Customs Today has revealed this mega scam of tax evasion which could be one of the biggest in the customs history of the country.
According to the relevant documents, hundreds of consignments were imported in the name of various importers, but the goods were pilfered during transportation of containers to the dry ports of Lahore, Faisalabad and Sialkot from Karachi.
The scam was unearthed in 2014 when a team of Customs Intelligence raided a godown and ceased a TP Container Number APHU-6944339 which was being transported on truck number P-8362 to the other parts of the country from Karachi. The raiding party found that the imported goods were unloaded from container and were dumped in the godown while the less valued stuffs were being loaded into the container. Further, it was transpired that for this fraud the container was unsealed and was cut through with various gadgets which were found from the spot. A first information report (FIR) no 18/2014 was lodged against the suspects.
The further investigations revealed that hundreds of such consignments were pilfered from 2005 to 2014 and the pilfered goods worth billions of rupees were supplied to the local markets.
The IDs of 34 importers, which were used in the import the consignments, included M/s Abdul Rehman Brothers, M/s Ahmad Traders, M/s Nadeem Trading Co, M/s SS Traders, M/s Dong Woo Enterprises, M/s Heaven Enterprises, M/s RN Traders, M/s Shahid Enterprises, M/s Bloomy Sports, M/s Awais Brothers, M/s Triple Foods, M/s Hamza Enterprises, M/s Perfect Trading, M/s Al Faisal Trading, M/s Awan Enterprises, M/s Sigma Construction, M/s Elite Enterprises, M/s SMJ International, M/s AS Enterprises, M/s Akif Traders, M/s Laiba Enterprises, M/s SRK Enterprises, M/s SS Traders, M/s FDA Traders, M/s Faison Traders, M/s KS Traders, M/s Subhani Fabrics, M/s Isma Traders, M/s Rozif Sports, M/s Brookes Impex, M/s Venus Enterprises.
Customs Today has learnt that the alleged mastermind of the scam is Jamshed Iqbal who succeeded in injecting his own vehicles into the bonded careers to be used for the fraud.
At the time of registering the FIR, the Custom Intelligence nominated various suspects in the case, including M/s Abdul Rehman Brother, Jamshed Iqbal alias Jamshed Butt, proprietor of M/s KS Traders, Aziz Mohammad Sadiq, Docks Customs Clearing Agent and Sindhu Transport Company along with drivers and cleaners of the trucks.
It was transpired that, as the clearing and forwarding agents, Jamshed Iqbal and Jawed Iqbal and their sons remained involved in tax evasion through the pilferage. They removed expensive goods, including electronic items, fabrics, iron material and auto parts from the containers and filled the containers with less valuable stuffs like used marbles etc.
According to the documents, the investigations on this mega scandal are still ongoing and contravention reports against these importers and mastermind are prepared.
