PESHAWAR: To curb the menace of smuggling, Customs Collectorate Peshawar, in collaboration with Customs Intelligence and Investigation, has started a grand blockade and surveillance operation of main arteries of Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as through Pak-Afghan Transit route.
Sources said that following the directives of Director General Customs Intelligence Imtiaz Ahmad, the Collector Peshawar Qurban Ali Khan was heading the operation. The focal persons of the operation are Ziaullah Shams Additional Director and Fazle-Samad an Additional Collector. Khayal Muhammad Deputy Director and Ali Asad Assistant Collector are head of the operation.
In this connection, a flag march with a number of vehicles of the Customs officials and personnel of securities agencies passed through the different main routes of the Peshawar. The routes supposed to put of strict surveillance and under blockade to check the smuggling were including Ring Road, Motorway M-I heading to Islamabad, Jamrud Road, Grand Trunk Road, Charsadda Road and other allied main roads.
Customs teams from different cities are also participating in the operation, additional force to reinforce the operation is also called on. The police and other law enforcement agencies were providing security backup during the operation. It is the first of such operation in the history of Pakistan Customs in curbing the menace of smuggling in the country.
Nisar Muhammad Khan the Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is from the Customs Group and due to his untiring efforts the Customs department in the nook and corner of the country was on its feet to control the smuggling of every type.
According to sources, Chairman FBR Nisar Khan, DG Customs Intelligence Imtiaz Ahmad and Member Customs Nasir Masroor chalking out plane to constitute a Customs Border Force. This would act like Motorway Police and training of the personnel would be handed over to security agency. It is in the proposal that salary and other benefits of the new squad members would be so attractive that they could not be enticed by any mean or institution to shun their mission.
