Customs dept failed to prove allegation

LAHORE: Customs department has failed to prove allegation of smuggling against seizure of a vehicle due to re-punching of identical chassis number.

The department was of the view that the owner of the vehicle had failed to produce any goods declaration or port documents to prove that the vehicle-in-question was not a smuggled one.

The owner of the vehicle, on the other hand, took a firm stand that the vehicle was earlier completely burnt in an accident in which the trawler carrying 15 cars was caught fire and due to leakage of oil from the tanker many vehicles which were stuck at the back of the trawler were also burnt. The incident was also resulted into death of two persons and many were injured at the spot.

He further pointed out that an FIR was also lodged in the relevant police station.

Interestingly, a representative of the department also visited the said police station to verify the claim of the owner and to confirm whether the registration number of the subject vehicle was rightly mentioned in the FIR besides other details of the incident. The police station staff verified the incident.

In addition, the owner of the vehicle also produced a verified certificate issued by the assembler, stating that all the vehicles were imported by it and all government dues such a Customs duty, sales tax etc, had already been paid on the vehicles. Accordingly, the invoice papers of the vehicle were also re-verified by the com, which confirmed availability of a copy of the same on the relevant file.

The appellate forum also made sure that no registration of any other vehicle was available against the same chassis number, which established the fact that re-punching of the same chassis number on the same vehicle was definitely due to the reason that it was completely burnt during the

incident. Furthermore, the owner also produced sale receipt against purchase of spare parts and

accessories used for

reconditioning of the said vehicle.

As a result, the Customs tribunal directed the department to release the vehicle to its lawful owner.

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