PESHAWAR: The Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation (I&I) Peshawar made 46 seizure cases of smuggling goods valued at Rs183.2million during the 1st-Quarter Financial Year (FY) 2017-18. The directorate seized heroin worth Rs13.7million during said period. The Directorate of I&I has established and made functional the PRAL, which has improved its efficiency/capacity in retrieving the data and generation of reports for enforcement related activities. Prior to said initiative, the directorate has been dependent on the headquarters for all types of data and statistics.
This was stated by Muhammad Saleem, Director I&I Peshawar, while giving an exclusive interview to Customs Today.
He told CT that, during the first Quarter FY17-18, the Directorate of I&I impounded 33 offending vehicles worth Rs45.9million while I&I took into possession 32 Non-Duty-Paid (NDP) vehicles valued at Rs73.9million. The Director I&I further told CT that, during the 1st-Q, the directorate posted outstanding performance and made 46 cases against tax evaders and possessors of contraband items priced at Rs63.4million. The Directorate of Peshawar confiscated 13.700 kilogram of heroin worth Rs13.7million during above said period.
Answering a query, Muhammad Saleem, Director I&I Peshawar, said the Directorate of I&I Peshawar has a vast territorial jurisdiction, comprising the whole Khyber Pakhtunkhawa province, which impedes the execution of an effective anti-smuggling and enforcement operational plan based on improvisation, effective coordination with other law enforcement agencies (LEA) and monitoring of prosecution.
Telling about the performance of I&I Peshawar during his tenure that comprises (November to June) FY16-17 and is compared with FY15-16, he told CT that, during November to June FY16-17, the I&I seized smuggling goods worth Rs634.00million while it did items worth Rs231.00million during the same period of corresponding FY15-16.
During November to June FY16-17, I&I earned duties and taxes valued at Rs336.00million whereas it received Rs138.00million during the same period of FY15-16. During current financial year, I&I Peshawar registered 175% more cases of smuggling items against the same period of last financial year.
Showing comparison between FY16-17 and FY15-16, I&I impounded nine NDP vehicles worth Rs118million during FY16-17 while it took into possession 76 NDP vehicles valued at Rs46million during FY15-16. During FY16-17, it impounded 123 offending vehicle valued at Rs139million while I&I did 157 offending vehicles worth Rs51million during FY15-16.
Director I&I Peshawar further told CT that, during FY16-17, it confiscated 12,018 mobile phones priced Rs50million whereas it impounded 6,400 phones valued at Rs3.2million during FY15-16. During FY16-17, I&I seized 100,068 cartons of cigarettes worth Rs76million while it confiscated 10,350 cartons of smuggling cigarettes priced at Rs0.87million during FY15-16.
