SIALKOT: The Customs Intelligence and Investigation, Gujranwala confiscated 191 smuggled Iranian tyres and impounded three Suzuki pickups being used for transportation of the items during an action near Kamoke Toll Plaza, Grand Trunk Road.
Reportedly, Deputy Director Zainab Mehmood received information that the smuggled Iranian tyres are being supplied from Lahore to other cities including, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Gujrat, Jehlum, Rawalpindi, Mandi Bahauddin, Chakwal, Hafizabad and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
After receiving information, the deputy director instructed Superintendent Muhammad Rauf Farooqi to depute a team on GT Road in order to bust the smuggling attempt.
However, the deputy superintendent and his team comprising Intelligence Officer Miratab Mushtaq Shah, Agha Naseemullah, Constables Asad Raza, Mubashir, Boota and others started checking of vehicles when it intercepted three Suzuki vans bearing Registration LET-4781, LES-2718 and LES-2000.
The officials recovered Iranian tyres from the vehicles. The team also asked the drivers named Rasheed, Rafique and Habib to show documents regarding legal import of the items but they could not produce the same. The drivers revealed that they loaded the tyres from Shah Alam Marker, Lahore.
Therefore, the officials confiscated the tyres, besides impounding the three vehicles under the customs laws and shifted to the compound of Customs Intelligence and Investigation. The team also registered a case under the Customs Act, 1969 against the accused person, while the notices will be served on shopkeepers involved in smuggling of tyres.
The Gujranwala Customs Intelligence staff told Customs Today that the anti-smuggling campaign was in full swing in the region, as the officials are working round the cloth to curb smuggling.