MULTAN: Pakistan Customs’ newly created Collectorate of Customs Enforcement, Indus has issued its first performance report. It shows a force that has moved from paper to the field in about seven weeks, with all 26 enforcement stations manned and 105 smuggling cases booked, involving goods worth Rs 273.254 million.
The Collectorate is a new anti-smuggling formation of Pakistan Customs under the Federal Board of Revenue. It was set up to police the riverine corridors of the Indus and Hub rivers, where smuggled goods have long moved through bridges, barrages and highways.
It assumed charge in mid-August 2026 and is headquartered at Custom House, Multan. Its jurisdiction extends 15 kilometres on either side of the River Indus and seven kilometres on either side of the Hub.
Collector Umar Shafique of the Indus Collectorate has also briefed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the formation’s progress and the challenges it faces.
Field operations began on 15 September 2026, when Sub-Inspectors and Sepoys were posted at the first 15 Digital and Mobile Enforcement Stations (DES/MES). The remaining 11 stations went live on 1 October, completing the network. Mobile squads now patrol the riverine corridors between fixed stations.
The stations sit on every major bridge over the Indus and the Hub. Many are on established routes, including the Thakot Battagram, Attock GT Road, Khushal Garh, Kalabagh, Chashma, Ghazi Ghat, Taunsa, Sukkur Barrage, Kotri and Guddu Barrage points.
Others are at newly established locations such as the Swabi section of the M1 Motorway, the DI Khan–Hakla Motorway (M14) on the CPEC route, Tarbela, Zahir Pir, Arror on the M5 and the Qazi Ahmed–Amri Bridge. Of the 26 locations, 14 are existing check posts and 12 were established from scratch.
The Collectorate’s entire field strength of 862 officials is now deployed, comprising 92 Sub-Inspectors and 770 Sepoys. Staffing is uneven, reflecting traffic and risk. Attock GT Road carries the heaviest complement, with 56 personnel, followed by Khushal Garh with 54, Chashma Bridge with 49 and DI Khan–Bhakkar Road with 46.
The Hub Moachko and Hamdard stations have 45 and 44 staff, and they also supply a Sub-Inspector and five Sepoys every shift to the smaller Hub Bypass Road and Mygarhi/Chaleghezi Cut stations.
Smaller outposts such as Dadu Moro, Larkana Khairpur and Kashmore are staffed more thinly. Every station has been provided with boarding and lodging for its staff, along with dedicated transport between sites and accommodation.
The second floor of Custom House, Multan has been designated the Indus Headquarters. The offices of the Collector, Additional Collector and Deputy Collector are already functioning.
Regional offices have been established at Peshawar, Islamabad, Mianwali, Sukkur, Hyderabad and Karachi, so the Collectorate’s administrative presence spans the Indus from north to south.
All three sanctioned Additional Collectors are in post, at Peshawar, Multan and Hyderabad. Five Deputy Collectors lead the Islamabad, Mianwali, Multan, Sukkur and Karachi regions. A Control Room at Custom House, Multan is receiving live feeds from DES Moachko and DES Hamdard, giving headquarters a real-time view of at least two of the busiest stations.
The report says the 105 cases booked since inception involve goods valued at Rs. 273.254 million. Seizures include smuggled cotton, high-speed diesel (HSD), gutka, cigarettes, tyres and betel nuts. Officials also intercepted kiwi fruit, polyester cloth, raisins and figs.
Two detections account for more than a third of the total value. At DES Ghazi Ghat, three trucks laden with smuggled cotton worth Rs. 56 million were intercepted. At DES Hamdard, two vehicles carrying HSD worth Rs. 41.6 million were seized. Together the two detections come to Rs. 97.6 million. The mix of goods, from agricultural produce and textiles to fuel and tobacco products, shows the range of illicit trade moving along the river corridors.
The Collectorate is still assembling its resources. It has received 48 operational vehicles. Eight have been retrofitted and are in the field, 19 are in the workshop, and all are expected to be deployed by the end of October. All Sub-Inspectors have completed a five-day course on seizure and allied functions at the Customs Academy campuses in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. Training for the remaining Sepoys is being arranged with the Punjab Police Training Wing.
On procurement, tenders have been floated on E-PADS under PPRA Rules. Bids open on 16 October 2026, and the process is expected to conclude this month.
Alongside its results, the Collectorate has pointed to structural limits on its work. It does not have the access or the resources to deal with appraisement matters, which means it cannot effectively address trade-based smuggling. That form of smuggling is on the rise, as certain checks and balances have been removed for some time.
Trade-based smuggling is carried out through the formal import channel, typically by misdeclaring the value, quantity or description of goods. It is invisible at a roadside checkpoint, because the consignment may carry apparently valid paperwork. It is normally detected through scrutiny of declarations and valuation, which is the appraisement function. Enforcement stations on bridges and highways are built to catch contraband in transit rather than to audit the documents behind a declared consignment.
The Collectorate also does not have access to appraisement data in WeBOC, Customs’ computerised clearance system, even though it holds information about attempted crimes. In practice, intelligence gathered in the field cannot be checked against declaration records. Linking the two would let investigators trace suspect consignments back to importers and clearing agents. Without that link, the Collectorate is largely confined to catching goods physically moving through its corridors.
The Collectorate’s first report therefore presents two things: a force that is deployed, equipped in stages and producing seizures, and a request, implicit in its own account, for wider access and resources if it is to move from intercepting vehicles to dismantling the networks behind smuggling.
