QUETTA, Oct 27: Different items, including vehicles, worth Rs240 million smuggled into the country from Afghanistan and Iran were seized during a crackdown carried out by the customs collectorate in Balochistan over the past month on the orders of Supreme Court.

During the hearing of a case relating to the law and order situation in Balochistan at the Quetta registry of Supreme Court, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had ordered the customs authorities to take stern action and curb smuggling which had been causing huge losses to the national exchequer.

The anti-smuggling squad of customs collectorate conducted raids in different parts of the province over the past month and seized 14,000 bags of Australian fertiliser, foreign currency of various denominations worth Rs52m, thousands of litres of Iranian diesel, 60 tonnes of Iranian plastic moulding compounds/granules, 16 non-duty paid vehicles and nine motorcycle-rickshaws, 14 vehicles used for transporting smuggled goods, 12,000 litres of Iranian motor oil, detergent powder and tiles.

“The raids have been conducted in compliance with the Supreme Court orders in the Balochistan law and order case,” the head of the anti-smuggling operations told Dawn on Sunday.