LAHORE: The Customs Anti-smuggling Organization (ASO) on Friday recovered smart phones of assorted brands of Nokia and Samsung worth Rs 35 million from Ravi Road, sources told Customs Today.
The official sources said that upon receipt of a secret information passed by the Chief Collector Customs Central Region Samaira Nazir, and on the directions of the Collector Customs Preventive Lahore Zulfiqar Younas, the Additional Collector Headquarters Nayyer Shafique constituted a team headed by Assistant Collector ASO Muhammad Asim Awan which comprised Superintendent Waqar Ahmad Cheema, Deputy Superintendent Mazhar Abbas Butter, and Inspector Sajjad Bukhari.
The sources added that the said team after intensive monitoring intercepted a Suzuki pick-up bearing registration no.LEG-1893 at Old Ravi Bridge early morning of 25.11.2016 and recovered 3493 foreign origin non duty paid/smuggled Samsung and Nokia smartphones with thousands of batteries and accessories concealed in vegetable crates.
Two individuals have been taken into custody and further investigations are still underway. The value of the recovered phones is estimated to be about Rs 35 million, it was reported reliably.
The sources said that the team of ASO Lahore under the supervision of Collector Customs Preventive Lahore, Zulfiqar Younas has once again served a huge blow on the grey traffic of mobile phones. Earlier in October, the ASO Lahore in a similar operation recovered about 1000 latest model smartphones valuing millions of rupees.
The sources said that the collector has instructed to all the official of ASO to adopt zero tolerance policy against smuggling and in this regard the team has been chasing the elements involved in the illegal activity.
