Customs liquor haul exposes supply network

Bottles of foreign smuggled liquor seized from a vegetable supply truck

The Pakistan Customs Enforcement Collectorate recovered over a thousand bottles of foreign liquor of different brands worth around Rs30 million from a vegetable supply truck.

Officials said on Thursday that acting on a tip-off provided by an informer, a team of Customs Enforcement at Mochko chek-post went on high alert.

Mochko is the last road stop between Balochishtan’s industrial city of Hub and Sindh’s capital, Karachi.

They said that the driver and helper of the vegetable supply truck loaded with eggplants were quite confident of passing through the check post undetected.

Also read: Liquor worth Rs70.5m seized by Pakistan Navy, Customs

However, the customs officials having prior information conducted a thorough search during which 1,080 bottles of foreign liquor were found packed carefully inside 90 cartons hidden in polypropylene and gunny bags tucked under the vegetables.

PHOTO: EXPRESS/EHTESHAM MUFTI

The Customs officials handed over the driver and the helper to the police and impounded the liquor.

Officials said that liquor smugglers bring their supplies to deserted beaches of Balochistan near Karachi, haul the booty on mules and donkeys to their hideouts, and load the supply on pickups and trucks for delivery in Karachi.

Meanwhile, the Customs Enforcement in another operation in Defence Housing Authority area of the city seized 160 bottles of foreign liquor from a car and also confiscated the vehicle worth Rs2 million used in smuggling.