SC demands verification of report

Supreme Court directs Chairman FBR and Member Customs to verify report on allegedly missing Nato containers.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court directed the Chairman Federal Board of Revenue and Member Customs on Wednesday to verify a report on the allegedly missing North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) containers.

A three-member bench of the apex court comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry heard the case after a television anchor from a private TV channel submitted documents about Nato containers that have gone missing during the last couple of years. He said that thousands of containers, carrying supplies for Nato forces in Afghanistan, have disappeared after departing from the Karachi port.

He alleged that illegal material is smuggled in these containers. The anchor person said customs officials on the route do not check the foreign supplies. The hearing was adjourned till Thursday (today).

Published in The Express Tribune, September 30^th, 2010.