Refutes media suggestions that US/ISAF containers were stolen. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
The US Embassy in Islamabad has refuted reports that 19,000 Nato containers for International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) were stolen from the Karachi port.
A statement released by the US embassy said, “Media suggestions that 19,000 United States/ISAF containers were stolen with weapons and ammunition are false.”
“While the US routinely uses Karachi ports for both diplomatic and military shipments, neither the United States nor Isaf has ever shipped weapons or ammunition via Karachi ports,” the press release further clarified.
Earlier last week, the Supreme Court had suggested constituting a commission to check report that at least 19,000 containers full of arms, ammunitions, liquor, and other goods had disappeared in the country.
Investigations into the missing containers case started on Monday, and sources said that officials of the Karachi Port Trust, Port Qasim and other terminals will be investigated soon.
The US Embassy further stated that all its cargo shipments were inspected by local customs authorities and that they used carriers that were licensed and bonded by Pakistan Customs.
Earlier, a bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had summoned the Customs Chief Collector Muhammad Yahya who said he had no knowledge about the arms being smuggled into the country, and had insisted that the monitoring system was very strict.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 6th, 2013.
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19 days, 90 days or 19,000 containers. I have great difficulty keeping all these numbers in my head. The US is a rich country with a humungous amount of dollars for the defence budget, do they really care if a few thousand containers go missing. . Shahi Syed of ANP who has bossed the truckers would have some idea about the matter.
If 19000 containers full of Guns and Alcohol had been stolen in Pakistan the price of Booze would have plummeted not escalated even higher .