ISLAMABAD: In an effective step towards curbing smuggling, Pakistan Customs seized smuggled goods worth Rs5.5 billion during the past six weeks.

A senior officer told Dawn on Saturday that the intelligence directorate, a specific department of Pakistan Customs for anti-smuggling actions, had in September this year launched a countrywide crackdown on the smugglers of various goods based on specialised intelligence and inter-agency cooperation and synergy.

According to the official, the activities were carried out through coordinated efforts between the regional directorates of customs intelligence, with cooperation from other law enforcement agencies, such as Rangers and police, as well as intelligence reports from civil and military agencies.

This collaboration has allowed the directorate general to enter previously “no-go areas” in Karachi, the customs official said.

Items include Iranian oil, electronics, cigarettes and sugar

According to details of the seizures, about Rs1bn worth of petrol/diesel has been recovered in Punjab and Sindh. Cigarettes, electronics, fabric, betel nuts, tyres and PVC-coated aluminium sheets are among the other things seized.

Aside from this, 510 tonnes of sugar have been seized by Hyderabad and Gwadar directorates for violating norms governing the inter-provincial movement of critical commodities.

The caretaker prime minister has termed the smuggling an existential threat to Pakistan. This realisation is the direct result of increasing awareness within policymakers about detrimental consequences of smuggling on the national economy, and its permeation in influential stratums of society. Actions are being monitored and policy prescriptions and directions are being given by the provincial and national apex xommittees of which the directorate general remains a part, according to customs officials.

Smuggling of Iranian petrol/diesel outside the province of Balo­ch­is­tan has been considerably curtai­led, they said, adding that it has been observed that passenger buses and transport vehicles are increasingly being used for Iranian oil transportation for a minimum quantity.

According to the officials, Iranian oil is no longer carried in tankers outside the region of Balochistan. They said the price difference between Iranian oil and local petrol has been reduced significantly in Balochistan.

Smuggled Iranian goods have flooded markets in Balochistan, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh. These goods are being shipped via the porous border with Iran, which is unmanned in comparison to the border with Afghanistan. “We can’t stop smuggling of goods from Iran with the manpower we have,” an official complained.

The Afghan Transit Trade is another potential source of smuggling into Pakistan. The anti-smuggling campaign also focuses on identifying those products which are prone to smuggling. The customs intelligence has recently scanned the transit cargos as well, the official added.

Under the transit agreement, the government recently prohibited imports of smuggling-prone items worth over $3 billion. Simultaneously, a 10pc processing fee on all transit products has been imposed to raise the expense of smuggling back into Pakistan. Following the imposition of substantial regulatory charges on the import of luxury items in the previous budget, transit goods have become appealing for smuggling.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2023