Customs team foils betel nut smuggling bid in Karachi

280 bags of unhealthy betel nut were recovered which are worth more than Rs10 million

KARACHI:

The anti-smuggling team of Directorate Customs Intelligence and Investigation Karachi on Monday foiled an attempt to smuggle betel nuts after it intercepted a truck bound for Karachi from the Northern Bypass route.

The betel was reportedly being taken under the guise of animal dung.

Deputy Director Customs Intelligence Inam Wazir told Express that they had received a tip-off that the dried cattle excrement, which was being delivered daily to various nurseries in the city through trucks, was also transporting smuggled betel nut.

He furthered that the team secretly monitored the movement of all such vehicles coming towards Karachi city as a result of which an attempt was made to stop a suspicious truck in the city’s Nazimabad area.

Read 4.1 tonnes of betel nuts seized in Karachi

“However, instead of stopping, the driver tried to escape but the team chased him and managed to stop him,” added Wazir.

The said truck was taken into custody by the customs team after the driver failed to give a satisfactory answer and a detailed examination was conducted at the Customs Intelligence Headquarters.

During the examination, it was revealed that there were 280 bags of unhealthy betel nuts in the truck which are worth more than Rs10 million.