KARACHI: The Special Customs and Taxation Court granted post-arrest bail to the four accused persons who have been booked for allegedly smuggling gold and electronic gadgets into the country without paying duty and taxes.
Judge Syed Faiz Rasool Rashdi directed the accused to submit surety of Rs 200,000 each.
According to the customs official, on August 5, 2015 four accused persons – Muhammad Altaf, Meer Muhammad, Suleman and Farhan Lodhi were caught smuggling 120 tola gold and electronic gadgets including mobile phones, laptops, and etc into the country at the Jinnah International Airport. Subsequently, an FIR was registered against them under the sections of the Customs Act 1969.
Advocate Aqeel Ahmed, who represented the accused, refuted the allegations of smuggling, saying the accused were caught when they were going through red channel, a route specified for passengers having dutiable goods, which meant that they wanted to declare the goods. Moreover, he argued that the goods accused were carrying were not declared the prohibited customs items.
Therefore, he said, a fake case was registered against the accused and requested the court to order their release.
