Smuggled mobile phones, tablets worth Rs284m seized

Items were found inside container near Saddar mobile market

KARACHI: Pakistan Customs claimed on Friday to have seized a large quantity of smuggled mobile phones and tablets worth Rs284 million in Karachi.

According to Customs officials, an action was taken after the Karachi Model Customs Collectorate of Preventive received credible information that some reputable importers were misusing the facility of green channel under paperless Web Based One Customs (WeBOC) system and clearing their goods from Karachi by wrongly declaring them as LED lights and bulbs in their description.

"On the basis of the information and on the directives of the  South chief collector of Customs (enforcement), Karachi, the collector of customs (preventive), Karachi constituted a team to thwart such attempts," Customs Collector Dr Iftikhar Ahmed said while speaking at a press conference. He was accompanied by Additional Collector Amir Thahim and Deputy Collector Muhammad Faisal Khan.

"The team after strict vigilance successfully intercepted a 40-feet container loaded on a trawler near mobile market in Saddar neighbourhood," Dr Ahmed said, adding that upon interrogation, it was confirmed that a large quantity of mobile phones was present inside the container, which had been brought into the country without the payment of duty and taxes.



Due to the absence of any proof of legal import, the container was taken to the Customs' anti-smuggling headquarters for further investigation and stocktaking, the officer informed the media.

During investigations at the headquarters, it was revealed that the container was carrying Rs284 million of worth goods, which included 27,200 mobile phones of Q-Mobile worth Rs136 million, 35,790 assorted mobile phones worth Rs143.16 million and 531 Amazon tablets worth Rs5.31 million.

The officer also disclosed that a preliminary investigation revealed that the mobile phones and tablets were imported by Digicom Trading Private Limited which had falsely declared them as LED lights and bulbs. FIR No 226/2017 has been lodged and further investigations are under way.