KARACHI: ‘Corrupt’ customs officials like Dost Mohammad are personally targeting the genuine importers who refused to pay bribe to these unscrupulous elements. Numerous importers are threatened by these deceitful officials through different methods to pay bribe or shift their businesses to other countries.
Sources informed that genuine importers have approached their legal consultants and advisors to lodge above 100 FIRs against Dost Muhammad for blackmailing genuine importers and launching false propaganda through a criminal website.
Sources claimed that Dost provides financial support to an illegal website from his ‘illegal income’ to accomplish his blackmailing agenda and put pressure on genuine importers through publishing of fake news items. Such customs staff mafia is using a frontman to run and manage the illegal website. These ‘corrupt’ officers threaten the genuine importers to pay bribe to them otherwise they will publish news against them on their website.
Sources said these ‘corrupt’ officers like Dost Muhammad run their illegal website merely to blackmail importers and their senior FBR & customs officials. Running such dubious news website only for fulfilling blackmailing agenda is entirely ‘criminal’ in nature.
Sources said the frontman of this illegal website declares his website as a newspaper but he did not get any declaration to run a newspaper, so it becomes illegal to run an unregistered news website for the sake of blackmailing genuine importers. There are lengthy legal formalities and background checks mandatory under the law before any newspaper can be launched. Law does not allow any unqualified or criminal background person to launch a newspaper.
They have chosen an illiterate frontman without proper schooling as owner of the news website so that they can get their fake stories published without any hurdle by the frontman. Whereas the law is very strict that owner of newspapers should necessarily be graduate and also an experienced journalist. Frontman of this website is not a journalist so he does not have any idea of journalistic ethics. It is strictly prohibited to run such kind of websites to damage repute and status of genuine importers and senior customs officers.
Sources said few days ago, importers from different cities of the country decided to lodge more than 100 FIRs against this ‘criminal’ website and their beneficiaries including customs officials like Dost Mohammad, Karachi East, who are using this illegal website to blackmail importers. Now these importers have started the process to lodge above 100 FIRs against Dost Muhammad for blackmailing them through a criminal website.
