KARACHI: Customs Court Judge Syed Faiz Rasool Rashdi has extended the physical remand of suspects, Adnan and Muhammad Junaid, and sent them back to the customs department. They were booked in a case of smuggled/ non-duty paid contraband mobile phones, tablets, LED TVs, and satellite dish receivers etc and evaded duty and tax of Rs 53,548,797.
The court also directed the investigation officer to produce them on the next date of hearing along with progress report. During the hearing, the investigation officer produced the suspects before the court and informed that officials of the Anti-Smuggling Organization intercepted Shahzore mini truck and Honda Vezel Pilot near open yard located at off Mai Kolachi Road Karachi and recovered 14,493 smuggled/ non-duty paid mobile phones worth Rs 1,449,30,000, at least 2,282 tablets worth Rs 13,692,000, around 76 LED TVs worth Rs 1,140,000, about 1,708 satellite dish receivers worth Rs 3,416,000, at least 81,600 paint markers worth Rs 816,000, around 970 mobile phones without LCDs worth Rs 1,940,000, at least 1,549 mobile accessories worth Rs 20,000, about 32,000 needles worth Rs 32,000, 77 TV boards worth Rs 77,000 and 9,600 DVD-R worth Rs 96,000, total worth Rs 166,159,000.
He further informed the court that during the investigation, it transpired that bonded carrier M/s Saif-ur-rahman & Brothers solely responsible for the transshipment of the consignment and with the criminal conspiracy of above mentioned accused and others associates in crime who adopted novel modus operandi and smuggled foreign origin contraband goods under the garb of computer parts which were illegally removal from container while en-route to Sambrial Dry Port for disposal in local market.
Therefore, Directorate General Intelligence & Investigation-FBR Regional Office Karachi lodged first information report (FIR) against partners/ director/ proprietor of M/s Saifur Rahman & Brothers, Zeeshan Afzal of M/s K.K Metal Industries, Adnan son of Muhammad Ashraf and Muhammad Junaid son of Abdul Razzaq and others.