KARACHI: Member Customs FBR Syed Tariq Huda has appeared optimistic to achieve a revenue target of Rs 2 trillion during the ongoing financial year.
Speaking to the media in an event held at Customs House Karachi to celebrate the International Customs Day, he said that the Pakistan customs had managed to save the country from a colossal loss of US$6 billion besides collecting revenue amounting to around Rs. 50 billion through its anti-smuggling efforts.
Furthermore, he said that the Pakistan customs through its anti-smuggling efforts averted the smuggling of US$ 2 billion in mobile phones, US$ 1.5 billion in Afghan transit trade and US$ 2 billion in petroleum products.
He apprised that the crackdown against the smuggling of cell phones had led to the rapid growth of the local mobile phone industry, which was expected to manufacture 20 million mobile phones during the current year.
Moreover, he said that Pakistan customs had formulated a three-staged strategy to curb the smuggling of petroleum products and some 1,600 selling points of smuggled petroleum products were already sealed and the target was to seal 2,500 illegal selling points of petroleum products by the end of this year. “The action against petroleum smuggling has caused increasing production activities of local refineries and due to aggressive anti-smuggling drive; investment is being attracted in the local tyre and electronics industries”.
In his earlier address in the World Customs Day event, he said that despite the difficulties in achieving the revenue targets especially during pandemic, the customs officers were playing a vital role not only in increasing revenue but also for curbing illegal trade.
Meanwhile, Chief Collector Customs Enforcement Saifuddin Junejo said that this year, the World Customs Day slogan was “Customs bolstering Recovery, Renewal and Resilience for a sustainable supply chain” and the Pakistan Customs did its best to maintain supply chain in the country and successfully maintained a nationwide supply of consumer goods during lockdown, which was an honour for the Pakistan customs. During pandemic, the Customs has also ensured the provision of all facilities for uninterrupted port activities; he said and added that thermal scanners were also installed at the Customs House, ports and airport ports to avert the spread of covid-19. In the end, the chief guest also inspected the guard of honour given by the contingent of preventive officers and sepoys of Pakistan customs and hoisted the national flag.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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