Flour smugglers’ gang busted

Food dept officials blame group for shortage of subsidised commodity in city

LAHORE:

The Punjab food department has unearthed an inter-provincial gang involved in smuggling and sale of subsidised wheat flour at market prices in different areas.

Sources in the department claimed that the gang's members had misappropriated thousands of bags of subsidised flour in Lahore.

They had set up a plant worth millions of rupees in a secret warehouse where bran was extracted from the flour procured from retailers. The flour was then converted to the fine variety and later smuggled to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The sources said the flour bag which was available for Rs1,295 with subsidy from the Punjab government was sold for over Rs2,300 in Peshawar and other areas.

The gang used to load the subsidised flour on loader rickshaws from the markets of the city and transport it to their warehouse.

Food department officials apprehended two suspects in a raid and handed them over to the police.

The sources also indicated the possibility of the involvement of some flour mill managers and owners in the activity.

Assistant Food Controller Shahid Aslam raided a building at Raiwind and seized a large quantity of flour, packed in green bags, which had been produced by at least seven flour mills.

A plant was installed in the godown to extract fine flour.

The bran separated during the process was also sold in markets.

The sources said the officials believed the gang had smuggled hundreds of thousands of bags of government flour during recent months.

They said the gang was one of the main reasons of shortage of subsodised flour in Lahore.

They said the members of the gang used to buy subsidised flour produced by different flour mills from a number of shops and deliver it to the warehouse at night rickshaws and pick-up vehicles.

The flour was then refined and repackaged. However, the sources revealed that the leader of the gang and his accomplices had also been caught earlier twice.

They alleged that some flour mill owners from South Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were behind the group.

Punjab Food Director Shozab Saeed directed his staff to ensure 100% supply of subsidised flour to the people.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2022.