KARACHI: Customs Court Judge Syed Faiz Rasool Rashdi on Friday re-issued non-bailable warrants of the absconding suspects, Zeeshan Akhtar son of Mian Pervaz Akhtar, Zeeshan son of Yousaf, Kashif Hussain son of Kazim Hussain and Muhammad Azam Hussain son of Fazal Hussain, who were booked for attempting to smuggle Q-Mobile phones and other goods in the garb of LED lights.
During the hearing, Investigation Officer Bashir Bhutto appeared before the court and informed that the suspects were still at large and the customs authorities were trying their best to arrest them. He sought further time for compliance of the court orders, therefore, the court re-issued their warrants and adjourned the matter.
According to the interim charge sheet, the Anti-Smuggling Organization (ASO) raided Sadder Central Plaza, Karachi, and found a container no-KKFU-72555703 loaded on a trawler noTLT-374. A search was carried out accordingly in presence of two musheers which revealed the presence of a huge quantity of mobile phones stuffed in the container.
The court was informed that subsequently the container loaded on the vehicle was brought to ASO/HQ. A thorough search was conducted in the presence of the said musheers, and recovered 27,200 Q-Mobile phones, 35,790 other assorted brands and models mobile phones, and 531 Amazon tablets which were smuggled by the suspect in the garb of LED lights. The tentative value of the smuggled goods is Rs 284, 470,000 and the suspect evaded duty and taxes in the tune of Rs 103,702,340 approximately. The investigation officer further informed the court that no suspect was arrest yet, however, they are trying their best to arrest them.
According to the prosecution was registered for violation of under section 2 (s) 16, 32 (1) & (2) 32A, 79, 80, 157 and 178 of the customs act, 1969 read with import policy order 2016 punishable under section 156 (1) (8) (89) (9) (9) (14) (14A) (43) (44) (45) & 156 (2) ibid read with section 3, 6, 7A, 33, 34 of the sales tax act, 1990, further read with section 148 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001.
