Liquor bottles worth over Rs20m seized at Karachi airport

2,268 liquor bottles were being smuggled in consignment meant for Syrian embassy, says official

KARACHI: Customs department thwarted on Friday a smuggling attempt and seized 2,268 wine bottles at the Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport.

Irfan Javed, director of the Directorate of Customs Intelligence Karachi bureau, told The Express Tribune that the liquor bottles were recovered from a consignment of the Syrian embassy in Pakistan.

“Customs officials seized 2,268 highly priced wine bottles worth over Rs20 million under Section 168 of the Customs Act after the Syrian embassy expressed ignorance about the items,” he said.

According to the director, a network of smugglers involved in concealing high-valued liquor in the embassy’s consignment had been traced.

Javed said customs officials were tipped off about the illegal consignment, which was falsely declared in the documents as food supplies for the embassy.

Earlier in March, he added, customs officials recovered 1,080 bottles of alcohol concealed in one of the consignments of Indonesian embassy.