1,600 containers cleared from port on fake documents
By Mubarak Zeb Khan
ISLAMABAD, Nov 8: Customs officials have no clue to the whereabouts of more than 1,600 goods containers reported to have been cleared on fake documents through an automated clearance system at the Karachi port.
It is learnt that most of the containers were cleared under the Afghan Transit Trade (ATT) agreement under which no duty or taxes are paid and the goods they carried were sold in the real market, thereby depriving the national exchequer of billions of rupees in duties and taxes.
Sources told Dawn on Thursday that the goods had made their way to the north of the country about six months ago by private bonded carriers. In most cases, the in-charge of the Qasim International Container Terminal released the containers to the private carriers on production of NOCs said to have been issued by the National Logistic Cell (NLC).
The sources said the customs intelligence directorate had made a presentation to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman on the missing containers.
They said the directorate had reconciled around 3,000 containers with available documents identifying the owners. However, mystery shrouds over the ownership and destination of around 1,600 containers.
Interestingly, all this happened despite the presence of a large number of officials of various agencies, including customs intelligence, appraisement intelligence branch, research and development and Pakistan Coast Guard and military and other civil intelligence bodies.
According to the sources, the customs intelligence confiscated only about 10 containers that had been cleared allegedly on fake documents.
A senior customs official said on condition of anonymity that before releasing the containers, data about ownership, carriers and goods’ details for upward movement had been fed into the customs’ automated clearance system.
The terminal operator then released the containers on the basis of the NOCs provided by the private bonded carriers; the NOCs in the case were issued by the NLC.
The NLC said the customs officials had checked the relevant records and documents. “The NLC is not involved directly or indirectly in the illegal transportation of containers. Containers have been shifted using fake documents as reported via dry port NLC Karachi No 18001/DP/NLC/KCI dated July 9, 2007,” an official of the corporation said.
“The NLC records have been checked, verified and scrutinised in detail and found to be correct,” the corporation claimed.
Apart from the Qasim terminal, the sources said, some containers had also been cleared from the Karachi International Container Terminal operating under the automated system. The sources said that the NOC in this case were found to have been forged.
According to the sources, initial findings showed that some containers cleared under the ATT went missing on way to Peshawar and Quetta dry ports. The NLC is the official carrier of goods imported under the ATT but in case of non-availability of space, the corporation authorises private-bonded parties to carry goods.
Initial investigations revealed that some containers were bound for the coalition forces in Afghanistan.
