LAHORE: Customs authorities in the central region of Punjab claim to have seized a huge quantity of imported skimmed milk powder destined for Afghanistan under cargo in transit and sealed a rice mills on Muridke-Narowal Road.

Officials put the value of seized bags containing skimmed milk powder at approximately $584,312 (Rs63.1 million) involving duty and taxes to the tune of Rs43 million.

Collector Customs (Central Region) chief Sumaira Nazir told reporters at the Customs House on Monday that the Anti-Smuggling Organization (ASO) staff, after receiving secret information, obtained a search warrant under section 162 of Customs Act 1969 and searched the premises of Saleem Rice Mills in Muridke on Feb 3.

She said the search led to the recovery of a huge quantity of skimmed milk powder of assorted brands and origins in bulk packing (25kg/bag). A total of 9,349 bags (233.76MT), having brands from the US, Ukraine, Poland, Turkey and India, were recovered.

Ms Nazir said the examination of the seized goods further led to the discovery that most of the bags contained stamps of ‘Cargo in Transit to Afghanistan’ which indicated that bags of milk were originally imported for consumption in Afghanistan under Pak-Afghan Transit Trade (PATT) and were smuggled back into the country.

It transpired during initial investigation that owners of the goods were involved in re-packing of the goods after getting the bags locally printed in order to change them with those carrying ‘Cargo in Transit to Afghanistan’ stamps.

The chief collector said that loose locally printed packing of Dairy America milk bags had also been recovered.

She said a case had been lodged with the I&P branch of the Customs House for further investigating the matter, tracking down and arresting the culprits.

Ms Nazir said the owner of the rice sheller from where the goods recovered had been identified and would soon be apprehended.

She said the authorities were investigating the involvement of Customs officials in connection with the seizure and responsible elements would be brought to justice.

About any action against substandard heart stents, MCC Collector Customs (Preventive) Zulfiqar Younas said that Customs were providing all relevant information to the FIA.

“As the Supreme Court of Pakistan has taken suo motu of the use of substandard stents and the Customs is awaiting a final decision for further action”, he said, adding they would act as per law against the smuggled stents.

Published in Dawn February 7th, 2017