KARACHI: The Customs Court has dismissed pre-arrest bail petitions filed by suspects namely Umair Yousaf and Farhan Yousaf and sent them to Central Jail Karachi on judicial remand, who are booked in first information report (FIR) for causing losses of revenue amounting to Rs1,94,765,264 to the national exchequer by illegal removal of warehouse goods from the Hecotex Warehouse.
On 28 July 2021, during the hearing, counsel for the applicants and prosecutor for customs department completed their arguments.
After their arguments, court dismissed pre-arrest bail to the above mentioned suspects and observed in its order that “applicants Umair Yousaf is a licensee of the bonded warehouse and Farhan Yousaf is a manager looking-after all the matters of the said warehouse, admittedly velvet suiting fabric, chiffon suiting weighing 171, 421 kg were warehoused against 11 goods declaration, but now in place of said warehoused goods some pieces of useless cloths are present which also with complete difference in weight”.
Court further observed that “on the other hand its is also admitted position that the license of subject warehouse is for iron and steel products, tiles, medical items and chemicals warehouse illegal removal goods are cloths, tentatively speaking both Umair Yousaf and Farhan Yousaf cannot be allowed remedy of pre-arrest bail which will subvert or undermine investigation procedure that essentially included arrest in order to bring the statutory exercise to its logical end for effective and meaningful prosecution of the offence through collection of information upon arrest especially in absence of mala-fide on the part of prosecution and loss of revenue to the govt”.
