ASO impounds goods, vehicles worth over Rs 140m from March to May, 2017
LAHORE: The Anti-Smuggling Organization (ASO), under the supervision of Collector of Customs Preventive Zulfikar Ali Chaudhary, has launched various operations to curb drug trafficking, provide facilities to passengers and improve the process of imports and exports.
These views were expressed by Deputy Collector of Customs Preventive Muhammad Moazzam Raza while talking to Customs Today here.
He said that though general policy guidelines were issued to streamline the operations of all the field formations of the collectorate, special emphasis was put on revamping of the ASO to protect the city and its adjacent areas from drug traffickers.
“ASO is reorganized by appointing new, competent and energetic staff while new checking/patrolling squads have also been formed to impound non-customs paid vehicles and to streamline the much sensitive intelligence gathering process to curb smuggling,” the deputy collector informed.
These measures have, definitely, created a deterrence impact on the people involved in the smuggling of different kinds of high valued goods and articles and it is quite evident from the recent remarkable performance of the ASO’s whole team, Raza said, adding that the ASO staff has seized goods and vehicles worth over Rs 140 million during the period from March to May 2017.
He shared that the ASO staff has specifically focused on the interception of smuggled, non duty paid luxury vehicles and during the said period ASO successfully impounded 30 vehicles having value more than Rs 40 million.
During this tenure from March to May, 2017 the staff has showed tremendous performance. During the month of March, the ASO staff raided the godown of M/s Qadri Hajvery Goods Forwarding Agency, Railway Godown, Badami Bagh, Lahore and seized huge quantity of foreign origin cigarettes valuing Rs10 million, he highlighted informing adding that the ASO mobile squads had seized 560 mobiles of Samsung brands valuing Rs8.4 million during the month of April and lodged FIRs against the culprits.
The ASO staff raided the premises of Ghulab Khan, Rahim Shah and Muhammad Afzal, and recovered huge quantity of smuggled/non duty paid Split Inverter Air conditioners and washing machines of LG brand valuing Rs.9 million registering a criminal case against the accused persons during the month of May.
Similarly, ASO staff had recovered foreign origin curtain cloth having weight 6555 kilograms from Pak Afreed Goods Transport Adda, Dosako Chowk, Sheikhupura valuing Rs4 million during the month of May besides two narcotics interdiction cases were also reported by Customs Preventive staff posted at GPO wherein sizeable quantity of cocaine and marijuana was recovered from the incoming parcels, therefore, FIRs have been lodged accordingly and the Investigation and Prosecutions is probing the matter to bring the actual facts to light and put the culprits behind the bars, the deputy concluded.
