Reported By Imran Khan
Karachi: An inquiry has been initiated against the elements of Enforcement Collectorates of Baluchistan and Multan on the directives of Member Customs Tariq Huda after Directorate General Customs Intelligence and Investigations detected huge quantity of smuggled Iranian Fuel in Multan Region which was transported in the country through Baluchistan .
An senior official told Indus Gazette on condition of anonymity that menace of fuel smuggling causing loss to National Exchequer Thrice in the form of Customs duties and Taxes worth millions of US Dollars, beside this the current situation now becoming a cause of rift between Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation Multan and Model Customs Collectorate Enforcement Multan which is now clearly visible.
According to the reliable sources in Pakistan Customs as legally imported Fuel Prices are getting high day by day in the country the demands of smuggled Iranian fuel also increasing immensely, sources further revealed that after price for per letter went over 160 Rs, the smugglers of fuel considered it golden opportunity for making huge extra money at once, right now they are getting smuggled Iranian fuel around 70 Rs per letter and selling it around 150 per letter.
The roamers are being circulated in local fuel markets that THE fuel prices would likely go up further to 190 Rs during the month of Ramdan, so the smugglers are dumping huge smuggled quantities in their secret storage points to mint more money in future.
In previous days information about such huge smuggled quantity was received by the Directorate General Customs Intelligence and Investigation and a special team was constituted by the DG Rasheed Shaikh comprising Assistant Director from Rawalpindi Rao Fahad, Assistant Director from Islamabad Muhammad Salik, Assistant Director from Multan Muhammad Ali, and Inspector Allah Ditta from Lahore for further proceedings.
document available with Indus Gazette revealed Muhammad Ali Asif the Assistant Director from Intelligence Multan wrote “In pursuance of a credible information received through Director General, Directorate General Intelligence & Investigation-Customs, Islamabad, the godown of Bismillah Lubricant 18-Kassi Multan through search warrants under section 163 of the Customs, Act, 1969 was detained on 22.02.2022. On 23.02.2022 the same premises was searched properly and in the presence of undersigned witnesses following has been recovered, included 800,000-liters of foreign origin petroleum product recovered from tank No. 1-8 and 20,000-liters of foreign origin petroleum product recovered from a separate tank. 420-drum of foreign origin petroleum product recovered. Each weighs 200-Kgs approximately.
Document further went on that the recovery was prepared on the spot in the presence of undersigned witnesses and the representative samples duly sealed were drawn in their presence.
According to the DIT sources this above 1 million letter smuggled quantity of fuel is the historical which belongs to the notorious fuel smuggler Malik Shaboo who is very active and influential with many contacts in Field Formations, this could be the reason that this huge quantity was easily transported from Baluchistan into the country to supply it further in Punjab and Sindh and no teams from Customs Enforcement Baluchistan and Punjab traced it which is a huge question mark on their performance and role.
According to the information when raiding report was sent to the Member Customs Operation’s office through Directorate General Intelligence and Investigations, the Member office took notice and directed the Collectorates of Model Customs Enforcement Multan and Baluchistan to conduct an inquiry thoroughly to find facts.
Acting upon the directions, Collector Customs Enforcement Multan Imran Chuhdary along with his teams inspected all the dumping points and cent the reports to the Member Customs Operation office in FBR Head Quarters Islamabad.
The menace of fuel smuggling has deep roots in the trans transportation areas including Quetta, Multan, Hyderabad and Gawadar for that smugglers gratifications worth millions, which is an area of concern for LEAs and Government.