Over 4 tonnes wheat smuggling bid foiled

Two suspected smugglers were held on charges of hoarding

LODHRAN:

The district administration, during an ongoing campaign against flour and wheat smuggling, foiled the transport of 430 10-kg bags of flour near Family Hospital on Thursday. Authorities stated that the flour was stored in a warehouse near the Alibaba Hotel in the center of the city.

Assistant Commissioner Farhan Mujtaba and District Food Controller Zaheer Ahmed Mayo took timely action to thwart the smuggling of flour. Two alleged smugglers were arrested on the spot, with authorities seizing a truck loaded with sacks of flour. Instructions were issued to food department officials to pursue further legal action.

According to the text of the FIR, the accused had set up a warehouse near Alibaba Hotel, where government flour was stocked. When the bags of flour in the warehouse were counted, 70 15kg bags and 500 10kg bags were found. DFC Food Lodhran said the accused did not even have a license to sell flour and by doing business without a license, they had committed an offense under Section 3/6 of the Control Act 1956. AC Mujtaba and the DFC raided the warehouse and recovered the stored flour. A case was registered against the accused Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Akmal in City Lodhran police station.

AC Mujtaba said that on the direction of Deputy Commissioner Agha Zaheer Abbas Shirazi, the government has adopted a zero tolerance policy on the smuggling of flour. Flour is being sold at government-controlled rates across the province and prices are being carefully monitored by district administrations.

The AC warned that shopkeepers overcharging for flour would have their shops sealed by the Punjab government and the owners would be punished.

It should be noted that the government of Punjab has banned the storage and smuggling of subsidized flour. Additionally, the inter-provincial transport of flour and wheat was banned on Tuesday.

Strict measures have been taken amid a wheat shortage across the country. Authorities ordered the establishment of pickets along the inter-provincial border with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), one of the destinations to which wheat is smuggled from Punjab.

These pickets have seen some success: on April 30, DC Bhakkar stopped several trucks loaded wth flour as they attempted to cross into KP. The trucks were collectively loaded with 700 tonnes of flour. While the inter-provincial ban was not in place at the time, orders had already been issued by the Punjab Government.

Furthermore, 14 check posts were set up at the exit points of Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum and Chakwal districts, to search and stop trucks carrying flour into K-P. These checkpoints, established by district administrations in collaboration with the Motorways department, are manned 24 hours a day for potential violators of the smuggling bans.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17^th, 2022.