Afghan-registered vehicles being allowed to ferry goods without mandatory road passes?

Afghan-registered vehicles are being allowed to transport goods through Kharlachi customs-station without mandatory road passes by Embassy of Pakistan in Kabul. This was claimed in a letter and special report sent to the chairman FBR by Director General, Directorate General Intelligence and Investigation (DGI&I), Customs, Zahid Khokhar which led to a major shake-ups in Pakistan Customs.

Afghan-registered goods carriers are allowed to enter into the country through with road passes embassy of Pakistan in Kabul only from Torkham border. However, these vehicles have been allowed to carry imports through Kharlachi customs-station, which the Directorate termed illegal.

The documents said that Torkham border, Kharlachi customs-station, Karapa Lachi, District Kohat, Ghulam Khan Tank and Chaman were said to be the havens for smuggling where Iranian and Afghan-origin goods were being smuggled into Pakistan, causing revenue losses in billions.

It said that the Directorate had detected 355 such vehicles carrying foreign-origin goods where no duty/taxes were paid and the imported goods passed through customs hands without filing of any GD, resulting in loss of revenue running into billions; adding that the phenomenon is continuing without any fear of accountability.

Replying to a question, DG Zahid Khokhar said the sole responsibility, as per law, was lying with customs department as all illegalities were taking place at all customs stations in KPK and majority of vehicles entered into the country without undergoing legal procedures at Torkham border.

The documents pointed serious procedural flaws, stating that the culprits bypassed the restrictions of WeBOC clearance system to gate-out the consignments.

The consignment, which was blocked through system, is allowed gate-out manually on back date without processing of goods declaration (GD) and the system is still indicating that the said consignment is still at the customs station while the GD is blocked.

Meanwhile, sources said that several high-ranking officials were removed from their posts after the said scam and now the Federal Investigation Agency has been given a task to initiate formal investigation into the matter.

Moreover, sources said that only fruits, dry fruits and vegetables were now being smuggled through Torkham and other customs stations in KPK provinces; however, high valued goods were now being cleared from Sust border through under invoicing.

They said that if the government was serious to curb smuggling in the country then strenuous measures should also be taken at the Sust border where goods were being cleared at the lowest values, which was equivalent to not more than 20 percent of actual values or below.

They said that although the incumbent government in order to curtail imports took strict measures and imports figures also went down, the influx of imported goods was not stopped as markets are still full of imported goods.

They said that after high customs tariffs imposed by the government, majority of import consignments were now being cleared from Sust border through under-invoicing and the customs authority closed its eyes to this trend because it was contributing to reducing imports figures.