Bid to smuggle illegal liquor foiled at Karachi airport

The smuggled consignment was disguised to be essential items for Palestine Embassy

KARACHI:

A bid to smuggle illegal liquor has been foiled by the Directorate General Intelligence and Investigation in Karachi on Wednesday.

According to the details, the smuggled consignment was disguised to be essential items for the Palestine Embassy in Pakistan.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the Directorate General Intelligence and Investigation Karachi foiled the bid to smuggle large quantity of illegal liquor.

The directorate general lodged a case against Messrs J&A International, Messrs Ocean World Line International, and Messrs Trans Breach Logistics Pakistan, while initiating the legal proceedings against the companies.

The sources further revealed that the implementation of Director General Faiz Ahmad's new 'anti-smuggling' policy made it possible for the DG I&I Karachi Saqif Saeed to take the action after getting information from his sources.

He designated the operation to a team comprising senior officers, who seized the suspicious consignment at the airport terminal, and stopped its clearance.

Also read: ECP decision in PTI prohibited funding case an 'observation': IHC

In order to further investigate the consignment, a few representatives were called from the Palestine embassy but none of the representatives showed up. They disowned the consignment, instead.

It is pertinent to note that when there is a consignment shipped for a specific embassy, then it is required from the embassy's representatives to submit necessary documents to receive the consignment and get its clearance from the Customs.

As per the sources, the consignment included a total of 10,548 liquor bottles of different brands from different countries, along with 2,160 bottles of beer.

The sources further revealed that as per the investigation so far, the clearing agent, the shipping lines, and the delivery agent were responsible for the smuggling. Further investigation is underway in this connection.