The Customs department's audaciousness in establishing pilferage of Nato/Isaf consignments against two logistics companies/bonded warehouses has put itself in an awkward position following the US Department of Defence reportedly declared that the companies/warehouses are the US flag carrier's contractor in Karachi, it was reliably learnt.
It may be recalled here that the Model Customs Collectorate-MCC (Preventive) had claimed in December that its officials on a tip off had confiscated military equipment, including helicopters' spare parts and several other dismantled containers from two warehouses, located at Trans Lyari, Hawks Bay Road and Yousuf Goth, Landhi.
The other equipments which were recovered and confiscated by the MCC (Preventive) included gorilla wheels, new 10-wheeler ford truck, two-lifter, two water tank of 400 gallons, two power generators, 26 containers cut into pieces, used laptops, etc.
Shortly after recovering the equipments, the MCC (Preventive), which was supposed to take the local representatives of the US Defence department on board before taking any action in this regard, registered two cases against the representatives of the bonded warehouses and declared them 'absconders' and thereafter through a letter sought a clarification from the representatives of the office of the US Defence, Pakistan.
However, the situation turned ugly when the local office of the US Defence Department in response to the MCC's letter, declared the bonded warehouses or the logistics companies as the U.S flag carrier's contractor in Karachi.
Sources said that the US defence office's representative also informed the Customs department that "they were working with high command of the US Military Transportation Battalion to locate a point of contact and to confirm if these units belonged to military or not as these units seemed to have been lying there for several years".
They said that the US defence office's representative believed that equipments were lost/unaccounted for and not 'pilfered' and they had started checking all authorised carriers and its private yards to ensure no other losses, missing or unaccounted for items and, if the equipment was found in any yard, the Directorate of Transit Trade of Pakistan would be informed, accordingly.
Sources also claimed that a representative of the US defence office had also requested the Customs department to re-export all the seized items to their next destination.
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