KARACHI: The customs court granted bail to suspects namely Zakir Ullah, Bakhtiar Muhammad and Muhammad Yasir against surety of Rs200,000, who were nominated in first information report (FIR) FOR smuggling of foreign origin fabric.
On 18 January 2021, counsel for the above mentioned accused persons appeared before the court and argued that his clients are innocent and have been falsely implicated in this case, who are ready to submit surety and will ensure to appear before the court on each and every date of hearing., therefore, court may grant their bail till final judgment in this case.
After the hearing, the court granted their bail and directed them to appear before the court on the next date of hearing.
Earlier, investigation officer submitted progress report against the above mentioned suspects who are divers and other staff and also against owners/ proprietors/ partners/ beneficiary of M/s Laiba Industries Pvt Ltd and informed the court that on an actionable information, customs officials intercepted three Hino trucks bearing registration numbers JZ-5706, JZ 6583 and JY-6947 and recovered 18, 690 kg assorted foreign origin fabric in different colors, 28, 465 kg assorted foreign origin fabric in different colors and 47, 155 kg foreign origin fabric in different colors total values of Rs. 79, 071, 861.
He further states that after the recovery, drivers were asked to produce lawful documents of good, however, they failed to produce any lawful documents and during investigation, it was revealed that some unscrupulous persons are engaged in the illegal removal/ clearance of foreign origin fabric from Karachi Export Processing Zone (KEPZ) on the basis of fake/ irrelevant documents causing thereby heavy loss of revenue to the public exchequer.
Investigation officer states that after the formalities, goods were seized along with vehicles and FIR was lodged against them for violation of under section 2(s) 16, 32, 157 (2) & 178 of the customs act, 1969 punishable under clauses (8)(9) (14)(89) & (90) of sub section (1) & (2) of section 156ibid read with section 3 of import & export trade control act, 1950.
