FBR informs Senate body: 2,059MTs of sugar in Balochistan, 70MTs in KP seized

ISLAMABAD: The government has stated that 2,059 metric tonnes of sugar in Balochistan and 70 metric tons in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was seized during the last nine months of the ongoing fiscal year.

This was stated by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in a brief submitted to the Senate Standing Committee on Finance on Wednesday in response to a public importance point raised by Senator Mehmoodul Hassan in the Senate sitting on April 7, 2023, regarding sugar smuggling, which was referred to the committee.

Copy of the brief available with Business Recorder reveals that in line with the directions of the government, Pakistan Customs has been focusing its resources to combat the smuggling of sugar from Pakistan to Afghanistan.

Despite, its limited numbers, it has seized 2,059 MT of sugar in Balochistan and 70 MT in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa during the nine-month (July-March 2023) in 77 cases with a value of around Rs248 million.

Issues and challenges being faced by the Customs officials in anti-smuggling included;(i) Limited number of Customs enforcement personnel (about 500 from Sepoys (custom constable) to superintendent level for the entire province of Balochistan;(ii) in case of seizure at check posts inside the province, there are frequent protests by local mobs, and pressure by the local administration to compromise;(iii) assistance of LEAs is usually not provided without senior level intervention;(vi) transport permits/rahadaris issued by local administration (ACs/DCs) are also used for movement of sugar to ultimately smuggle it out of the country; (FTO) has ordered that the locally produced goods like sugar wheat and fertilizer should be intercepted only at border or within the perimeter of 15 kilometre.

The meeting was informed that Pakistan Customs is deployed at various notified Customs Stations at the Pak-Afghan border, including Chaman, Torkham, Kharlachi, Ghulam Khan, and Angoor Adda.

The import and export cargo comes to these customs stations for which declarations are filed. The cargo is scanned by National Logistic Cell (NLC) and checked by Customs and in certain cases, bags of sugar are found concealed beneath cargo of salt or other goods. In such cases, legal action including FIR is taken.

However, the main routes for smuggling of sugar are located in the Rakhshan Division in Balochistan where Pakistan Customs has no presence on the long porous border whereas Frontier Constabulary (FC) and levies are deployed at the border in large numbers.

Resultantly, Customs carries out enforcement on commodities being transported through the check posts established on the main roads.

Additionally, different law enforcement agencies have several check posts on the roads leading to the border/customs stations.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023