PESHAWAR: The police and Khasadar personnel had no legal power to fleece or take money from drivers, who are exporting various commodities to Afghanistan via Torkham border in Landikotal.
Sources told that “Police and Khasadar force should focused on countering smuggling instead of countering terrorism or stopped street crimes, despite that cops have no power after 2005 to interfere, however, in order to earn money through illegal means cops just make trouble for transporters.”
The goods transporters have disclosed that personnel of police, Customs and Khasadar force demand huge bribe from them at various checkpoints.
However, Custom officials clarified that uniforms of some other departments were matched to Customs police uniform, which is causing ambiguity in identification of department. The official added that majority of drivers are uneducated, incase, these drivers paid money as bribe to other officials like police and Khasadar force, and excise.
An official of Custom House Peshawar said that at least 14,000 vehicles passed through Torkham daily and checking of each and every one was not possible humanly. He revealed that after 1994 no recruitment took place in Custom department which also affected the efficiency of Custom police.
Each driver either he is importer or exporter paid Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 as bribe to police, Khasadar force and Excise officials on various check posts situated in Pakistan-Afghanistan borders, a transporter said.
A driver said that during transporting goods from Pakistan to Afghanistan, officials of excise, Khasadar force and police stopped them just for wasting their time and bargaining, however, in order to meet deadline and save their time they bribed them on daily basis.
Drivers complained that sometime demand for money was so high that they had to talk out the issue for hours as they no longer carried huge amount with them owing to increase in highway robberies. They said that they had to borrow money on the way as they had to refuel their vehicles several times on long routes.
They added that Customs staff at a checkpoint near Kohat tunnel allegedly extracted huge amount under compulsion from the transporters and smugglers by allowing them free passage. The drivers alleged that police on Peshawar Road also took bribe from the truckers at Mattani and Sra Khawra checkpoints.
They said that an official of the police and Khasadar force demanded Rs 500 to Rs 1,500 from them, depending on the load and size of their vehicle. However, upon refusal or argument, they said, the official threatened them to unload the truck for checking.
