KARACHI: The Special Court of Customs Taxation and Anti-Smuggling on Wednesday recorded the statement of a prosecution witness in a case pertaining to the fraudulent release of Afghan Transit Cargo.
Judge Syed Faiz Rasool Rashdi recorded the statement of the complainant of the case. Adjourning till October 28, the court directed the investigation officer Abdul Ghani Soomro to ensure presence of other witnesses in court at the next hearing.
According to the details of the FIR, the customs officials had lodged an FIR against a bonded carrier, M/s Pak Afghan Cargo Service, for fraudulent release of Afghan Transit Cargo in the guise of US military cargo.
On suspicion, a letter was written to the consulate general of the United States of America, Karachi for verification of the letter submitted by the bonded carrier for obtaining one-time registration of the vehicles.
In response, the consulate general through a letter dated September 9, 2013 confirmed that a letter purportedly issued by the consulate general bearing no USC/IMP/309/13 dated July 1, 2013 for bill of lading no 55931676 and containers- MSKU9392963 and MSKU8255826 presented to the collectorate by Shaukal Gul for seeking release of non commercial consignment of the US military was fake.
In view of the aforesaid confirmation, the collectorate deputed a specially constituted team to carry out search of the office premises of the bonded carrier, which led to the recovery and seizure of vital record. Therefore, the FIR was registered against Shaukat Gul, one of the partner of the firm, along with three other accomplices namely Muhammad Ali, Imran Ali and Luqman Khan, who allegedly played a vital role in the crime.
