Miscreants in Quetta are stopping import shipments of tomatoes from reaching their destinations, and were seen either looting or destroying the merchandise, reported Aaj News on Friday.

Seeing the import containers as competition, they argue that “no one will buy our tomatoes if imported ones infiltrate the market”.

The incident was witnessed in Mangochar, Balochistan.

Consignments of imported tomatoes, onions reach Karachi

They stated that their crops are ready for harvesting, and importing from Iran and Afghanistan at such a time will cause losses for them. They have demanded the government to suspend imports of tomatoes for at least two months.

Locals Aaj News spoke to said a few miscreants attacked containers and looted or destroyed the perishables.

Import permits for onion, tomato to be issued

Authorities in the region have cited that they would investigate the incident and apprehend the people involved in it. However, no action has been taken yet.

In Quetta, tomatoes are being sold for Rs200 per kg.

Govt suspends duties/taxes on import of tomato, onion till Dec 31

Kalat Additional Deputy Commissioner Shayak Baloch stated that he has taken notice of the incidence and it will be investigated.

Onion and tomato prices have witnessed a massive rise in recent weeks as flash floods washed away entire crops, compounding the food emergency situation in the country.

To deal with this crisis, the government decided to issue permits for imports from neighbouring countries to minimise the transport time as well as costs; and concurrently requested the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to waive off taxes and levies on import of onion and tomato for the next three months.