KARACHI: The exporters are facing hardships in clearance of their consignments by the un-necessary hold of the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF).
Talking to the Customs Today on Saturday, they said that the un-necessary hold by the authorities concerned of ANF are affecting the exports of the country and evident in delay of the export consignments which deprived of the country by millions of rupees foreign exchange.
The exporters said that the ANF officials are examining each and every consignment at Jinnah International Airport (JIAP) which on one hand delays in handing over the export consignments and on the other hand gives colossal loss to the national exchequer. They were of the view that the ANF officials were manhandling the export consignments during examination which suffers loss to the exporters, as the party does not accept the tarnished consignments. They further said that the issues pertaining to the manhandling of the export consignments have also been taken before the Customs authorities and asked them to take appropriate action in this regard.
The exporters have also demanded of the ANF authorities concerned to take immediate notice of the ongoing situation in order to facilitate the exports of the country. It is pertinent to mention here that the DP-World, dealing in bonded carrier on behalf of Qasim International Container Terminal (QICT) has already said that the Anti Narcotics Force (ANF) will not examine any consignment without the availability of the importers/exporters representatives.
The terminal operator said that the presence of nominated clearing agent is a mandatory requirement during ANF examination, adding that none of the containers is attended by ANF authorities without the presence of nominated representative.
