MULTAN: Collectorate of Customs Enforcement & Compliance Multan and Sahiwal seized huge quantity of betel nuts worth Rs47.3 million.
According to details, Additional Collector Syed Ali Abbas Gardezi received reliable information that huge quantity of contraband items were dumped in Sahiwal. He directed anti-smuggling squad to enhance patrolling to recover smuggled goods.
Anti-Smuggling Organization Multan and Sahiwal formed special joint team under the supervision of Inspector Saleem Khan and others to take action against smuggled goods. Following the directions of additional collector, the team raided said dumping site and recovered huge quantity of betel nuts.
Anti-Smuggling Organization team detected that betel nuts were crushed and which were kept secretly. Customs anti-smuggling staff seized smuggled Indian origin crushed betel nuts after examination.
Betel nuts were packed in 375 sacks and net weight of seized betel nuts was 23600 kilograms and 47.2 MT. Customs staff also called Baluchistan Military Police for their assistance during crackdown to avoid any retaliation.
During preliminary investigation of Customs Anti-Smuggling Organization found that said betel nuts were smuggled from Baluchistan and smugglers were trying to supply in the local markets. Customs Anti-Smuggling teams seized the entire betel nuts and shifted the betel nuts to Customs State Warehouse Multan.
The value of the seized betel nuts was almost Rs.472 million along with duty and taxes. Customs seized the betel nuts under customs act 1969 and further investigations regarding the betel nuts were still under process.
