LAHORE: Customs Court of Anti Smuggling and Taxation Court Judge Mohammad Arshad Ali has rejected the bail plea of accused Akhtar Mehmood who is involved in smuggling of foreign currency.
Sources told Customs Today that the accused person was arrested from Allama Iqbal International Airport when he was making an attempt to smuggle 15100 US dollars and Chinese currency of 2687 Yuan. The accused was trying to smuggle this currency o Sri Lanka. Customs Preventive team deputed at Lahore Airport arrested the accused and asked for relevant documents regarding possession of the currency but he remained failed. Customs Preventive team arrested the accused and after registering a case of money laundering against him forwarded the case to Customs Court.
During hearing of the case counsel of the Customs department argued that there sufficient evidence is available with the customs department that accused has been involved in currency smuggling. He further argued that customs department needs some more time to conclude the ongoing investigations against the accused persons.
After hearing the arguments Customs Court Judge Mohammad Arshad has rejected the bail plea of accused and directed customs department to submit final challan against the accused person on next date of hearing.
It is necessary to mention here that Collector Customs Preventive Faiz Ahmad directed all anti smuggling squads specially deputed at airports to adopt zero tolerance policy towards smuggling. He directed anti smuggling squads that anyone who found involved in smuggling should be dealt with iron hands.
