KARACHI: The Customs Court sent suspects namely Muhammad Ali son of Muhammad Rafiq to customs department on physical remand who was arrested in a case of attempting to smuggle 229 branded mobile phones.
On May 22, 2019, investigation officer of customs preventive produced the above mentioned suspect before the court and informed that on an actionable information, customs officials intercepted suspect holding Pakistani Passport arrived from Sharjah to Karachi by Air Arabia flight no: G9-547 and was asked to declare whether he was carrying any contraband goods in his baggage.
He further submitted that after his denial, he was diverted to customs scanning machine along with his baggage and during the search, customs officials found 15 used Samsung mobile phones, 11 used Motorola mobile phones and 203 Dismantle Motorola mobile phones worth Rs345,7900.
He further informed the court that he failed to produce any lawful documents, therefore, after the formalities, goods were seized and he was also taken into custody.
He argued that prosecution needs further investigation from said suspect, therefore, court may send him back to customs department. After the hearing, court approved his physical remand and directed investigation officer to produce him on next date of hearing before the court along with progress report.
According to the prosecution, case was registered for violation of under Section 2 (s), 16 & 139 of the Customs Act, 1969 punishable under clauses (8) (89) & (70) of Section 156 (i) ibid read with baggage rules notified vide SRO 666(I)/2006 dated 28/06/2006 & Section 3 (iii) of Import & Export (Control) Act, 1950.