SIALKOT: The sale of smuggled and non-customs paid goods is on peak in all the local markets of Gujranwala Division’s six districts – Sialkot, Narowal , Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Hafizabad and Gujranwala, while absence of checks is making the situation even worse.
Different agents are transporting these non-customs paid smuggled items including auto parts, LCDs, LEDs, computers, laptops, mobile phones, oil, foreign cloth, tea, cigarettes and tyres, etc, to this region from the tribal areas by crossing the checkpoints established by the Pakistan Customs at various spots, including the ones near the bridges of Rives Jhelum, Chenab and Gujranwala-Sialkot checkpoint at Nandipur.
The special teams of the Customs Intelligence and the Anti-Smuggling Organisation were often found busy in checking the buses, vans and other vehicles at the above mentioned checkpoints, but they do not impound the vehicles having non-customs paid smuggled items after allegedly striking a deal with them, alleged some people.
They said that transportation of the said smuggled non-customs paid items, especially electronics, was going unchecked due to the alleged malpractices and corruption of officials concerned in the Sialkot region.
When contacted, the local shopkeepers said that they preferred selling the items smuggled from abroad due to big profit margins. The profit margin in legally imported goods is much less than the smuggled ones, they said.
When contacted, officials concerned of the Customs Department negated these allegations, saying that the Customs Department was striving to halt smuggling of non-customs paid items despite limited resources. They said that the circle around smugglers has been further tightened and a massive crackdown would soon be launched in Sialkot region to curb the open sale of non-customs paid smuggled goods.
