LAHORE: The Customs Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation (I&I) is set to carry out snap checking in leading consumer goods markets to seize smuggled goods, said sources.

They said the Finance Act 2021 has empowered the Customs department to extend its operations to domestic markets as well in order to control smuggling. They further added that no such power was available to the customs department earlier which resulted into flooding of consumer goods markets with smuggled items from across the world.

Director Customs Lahore Asad Raza Rizvi, when contacted, said the Finance Act 2021 has empowered the department to check retail outlets to curb smuggling as the scope of the definition of smuggling has been enlarged in the Finance Act and retail outlets have been added to the list.

However, he made it clear that snap checking of retail outlets would not be possible without a healthy liaison with traders’ associations. Therefore, a comprehensive strategy is being chalked out to contact these associations and start snap checking of retail outlets to control entry of smuggled goods to the market. The department would not be able to unearth rackets of smugglers within the business community without a cooperation of concerned associations, he added.

He also disclosed that many retail outlets were involved in selling smuggled goods by changing the expiries manually in the market. Such products are also harmful for the consumers besides causing revenue loss to the country, he said. According to him, all such elements would be taken to the task ahead to control smuggling within the country.

It may be noted that the Collectorate of Customs Enforcement has made seizures of POL products, cloth, cigarettes, auto parts, betel nuts, skimmed milk, welding rods, tires, luxury vehicles etc worth more than Rs 4.2 billion during the course of various anti-smuggling operations on roads and storage places inside and outside city limits of Lahore in the fiscal year 2020-21.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021