MULTAN: The Anti-Smuggling Squad of Multan Customs has considerably slowed down its active campaigning causing, hurting revenues heavily.
Sources told Customs Today that the Anti-Smuggling squad of Multan Customs Enforcement was very active during the entire 2021-22 drawing healthy impact over the FBR’s revenue collection that was also acknowledged by the Prime Minister. Despite the slowdown of business activities in the country due to regime change, imports from the legal channels increased only due to a constant crackdown by the Pakistan Customs against the smugglers.
But surprisingly the Customs slowed down its anti-smuggling drive since the beginning of the new calendar year resulting in the drastic decrease in the revenue collection as imports duty, sources told the scribe.
According to the figures available to this scribe, the Multan Customs seized the goods from the smugglers worth Rs140.65 million during the first month of 2022-23 as compared to goods seized worth Rs 376.24 million in the first month of the corresponding year 2021-22.
Anti-Smuggling activities slowed down due to change in the strategies of Customs anti-smuggling squad in the beginning of economic year 2022-23 In the first month of last year 38,928 Dandas of smuggled cigarettes were seized worth of 31.88 million while this year in the same period, only 500 Dandas of imported cigarettes worth of 0.5 million were seized, sources confirmed.
Similarly, crackdown against Gutka mafia, anti-smuggling squad of Multan Customs in Karachi seized huge quantity of betel nuts worth of Rs233.65 during the first month of 2021-22 while this year the it seized only 18,960 kg worth Rs22.06 million.
