KARACHI, Aug 11: About six dozen containers with export consignments worth millions of dollars are awaiting clearance at Port Qasim for a couple of days and exporters fear that delay in shipments could mean cancellation of their LCs.
"There may be some black sheep, but holding up export consignments for checking contraband goods across the board could hamper the flow of export goods," an exporter said. The Anti-Narcotic Force (ANF), however, claimed that there were no delays as such in procedural routine checking and exporters needed to abide by rules and should give 36 hours' notice for clearance of their consignments.
Exporters said that holding up such a large number of containers for 'search of contraband' was bound to disturb the shipping schedule and might even result in the shunting out of many containers.
Some exporters feared that the ANF action might result in cancellation of a large number of LCs. "I fail to understand that when trained dogs are being used for sniffing contraband why has the ANF suddenly stepped in to disturb the export business," a leading exporter said.
The search exercise by the ANF requires the de-stuffing of each container and again the re-stuffing of goods, which would affect the original export packing and might also deface the products.
The exporters also said that the process, besides damaging goods, also disturbed their shipment schedule. In both cases, shipping company shunts out all such containers, eventually causing cancellation of the LCs.
"We are being asked to give an undertaking on bond papers to assume the responsibility in case a contraband is found in a container," a leading garment exporter-cum-manufacturer told Dawn.
But some of the exporters said they would like to know who would give them the assurance that in their absence no-one would plant a contraband in their consignments at the time of the de- stuffing or re-stuffing of containers in the process of a search. They would also like to know who would be responsible for any pilferage that might take place during the process.
"We are not against the checking for the contraband but there should be some parameters for doing such jobs as they have direct affect on country's exports which are going to face a quota-free market from Jan 1, 2005," he added.
Most of the exporters are perturbed about the sudden ANF policy of checking every container. Exporters further said that when scanning machines were being installed at all exit and entry points there was no reason why the manual checking of prohibited items had been initiated at such a critical juncture when exporters were confronted with the global challenges of WTO's quota-free regime.
"Even in the US and European countries which are facing the problems of terrorism and the smuggling of contraband items, steps which might adversely affect their trade and exports are not taken," a business leader said.
A leading exporter said that export goods usually lay scattered around the containers which had been checked and cleared by the ANF. If an exporter is lucky he would get some time for proper re-packing, otherwise he would have to stuff the goods into the containers.
The exporters also made available a list of containers detained by the ANF on Friday, Aug 5. The list carries the destination of the cargo, container numbers and names of forwarders. The exporters also objected that the ANF carried out the checking only at night.
The Joint Director of the Anti-Narcotic Force (ANF), Sindh, Col Kauser Ilyas, who avoided a direct response when asked if his agency had detained a large number of containers. He, however, said that under the rules, exporters had to give 36 hours' notice prior to the shipment schedule for getting ANF's clearance.
However, he said, it was being noticed that containers were delivered at the eleventh hour at the port so that under the pressure of shipping schedule, no proper checking could be carried out. This was how, he said, the contraband was being smuggled through 'official channels'.
He said the ANF would not allow even a single container to pass through (air or sea) ports without proper checking or clearance and this should be obvious to all in the export business.
Mr Ilyas further said that the ANF would not accept any undertaking because it provided a cover to those who indulged in the smuggling of contraband under the garb of exports. He admitted that even while working round the clock his force could not check or clear more than 30 containers a day.
