Rawalpindi: Pakistan Customs has seized a shipment of foreign sweaters at the Islamabad Dry Port, thwarting an attempt to cause significant financial loss to the government treasury through misdeclaration and violations of the Customs Act.
According to officials, the importer allegedly attempted to defraud the government out of approximately 10 million Pakistani Rupees in collusion with clearing agents. A case has been registered against the importer, Junaid Siddiqui, and customs clearing agents Abdul Wahid and Mushtaq Ahmed.
The case was filed at the I & P Customs Collectorate Islamabad on the complaint of the Appraising Officer of the Customs Dry Port, Nauman Ali. The complaint stated that Assistant Collector Ali Khalid was informed about a potential loss to the government treasury due to misdeclaration concerning the shipment of foreign sweaters.
Following this information, the Assistant Collector formed a team for inspection, which discovered a total of 36,732 foreign sweaters during the examination. The Goods Declaration (GD) had inaccurately recorded the quantity of foreign sweaters as only 11,250.
The importers, Junaid Siddiqui, Abdul Wahid, and Mushtaq Ahmed, were found to have maliciously misdeclared the goods, resulting in an attempt to defraud the government of over 9.9 million Rupees in customs duties and taxes.
Authorities have stated that the entire shipment and container have been seized, and an investigation has been initiated under the Customs Act.
