ISLAMABAD: Seema Raza Bokhari, Collector of Customs, said that ASO Islamabad has intercepted a container that was carrying smuggled Afghan Transit Trade items worth Rs 20 rupees.
According to details told by the Collector MCC (Model Customs Collectorate) Islamabad, upon the directions of Member Customs (Operations) Jawwad Agha, Model Customs Collectorate, Islamabad has beefed up its anti-smuggling activities.
She said that the Customs Preventive staff of the Collectorate seized a 40ft container truck coming from Peshawar on M-1 Motorway. The seized goods included mobile phones, high-value fabric and other goods worth Rs 20 million, including items of Indian origin and those with Afghan Transit Trade stamps on them. The container had a wall partition giving a false impression of being empty.
The Collector MCC told that pursuing a secret information that an attempt of smuggling different types of goods will be tried to cross the jurisdiction of the MCC (model customs Collectorate) via motorway M1. She added that under her direction Deputy Collector headquarters Maryum Khalid directed the Assistant Collector MCC Islamabad to form a squad and made vigilance more tight on M1 motorway.
She said that following the said directions the Customs staff of ASO (Anti snuggling squad) seized the forty-feet long container on account of suspicion while en route to some unknown destination on M1 Motorway.
She notified that the seized container was carrying smuggled goods including cell phones and high-value fabric in huge quantity. Customs authorities told after on-spot initial investigation that most of the items seized are of Indian origin.
She notified that apparently, the container looked empty but smuggled goods were lying in a secret chamber behind a fabricated wall, some of the seized items were of Indian origin while the stuff was imported into Afghanistan through transit trade and later it was being smuggled back to Pakistan.
