KARACHI: The safety of transshipment cargo has been compromised on the Taftan-Quetta route due to failures by a newly licenced Vehicle Tracking Company, highlighting the vulnerabilities in the cargo monitoring system.
According to the details, a vehicle carrying Afghan Transit goods broke down near Tuzki Sand Dunes, approximately 70 kilometers from Taftan. While attempts were made to repair the vehicle, a group of 10-12 armed individuals approached and attempted to rob the cargo.
Meanwhile, the officials presented on the spot claimed that the armed men, after cutting the tarpaulin wire surrounding the consignment, took only tools and spare parts from the vehicle, as they found the cargo not lucrative.
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The incident revealed critical failures in the tracking system operated by Vehicle Tracking (Pvt) Ltd. The company failed to generate timely alerts when the vehicle made an unusual stoppage. More troublingly, the system incorrectly reported the vehicle’s location as “near Hazarganji, Western Bypass, Quetta”– approximately 560 kilometers away from its actual location near Tuzki Sand Dunes.
“The tracking company was required to generate an alert as soon as the subject vehicle made an unusual stoppage, which was not done accordingly,” stated official documents from the Transit Directorate. The inaccurate location reporting severely hampered the ability of authorities to dispatch emergency assistance.
In response to these failures, the Directorate has imposed a penalty of Rs 300,000 on Vehicle Tracking Company for violating Customs regulations.
The company has also received a warning to improve its performance or face possible licence cancellation. When contacted, Arshad Rajwani, CEO of Vehicle Tracking Company, defended his firm by citing infrastructure limitations. “There was no satellite tracking coverage for the prime mover and also no GSM coverage between the Taftan to Quetta route, due to the law and order situation,” Rajwani stated.
He added that their tracking devices can store 100 locations in memory and transmit this data only when GSM signals become available.
Rajwani termed the penalty as “unjustified”, indicating plans to appeal the decision, arguing that his company cannot be held responsible for areas lacking proper communication infrastructure.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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