KARACHI: The customs authorities have foiled an attempt to clear 31,112 high-value mobile phones along with around 5,000 sets of long-distance special mob­ile phone sets that could be used for cross-border communication and anti-jamming equipment, official sources confided to Dawn on Monday.

They said the mobile phone sets carried an estimated market value of around Rs1.55 billion, and when the Pakistan Tele­com­munication Auth­ority refused to allow its import, the culprits attempted to get them cleared by showing them as refrigeration parts, dyes and garments.

Customs sources said that the seized phone sets were so designed that their international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) could not be traced out, indicating that they were meant for special purposes or for use by terrorists operating along the Pak-Afghan border.

The mobile phone sets and anti-jamming equipment were stuffed in a less than container load (LCL) of 40 feet in 13 pallets in the name of three fake companies which were only registered with the Lahore customs, they added.

The consignment arrived from Dubai in the first week of January at Karachi International Container Terminal and was later shifted to the off-dock station — Al-Hamad Inter­national Container Terminal (AICT).

The sources said that the Collector Model Customs Collectorate of App­raisement (West Karachi), Shahnaz Maqbool, had received an intelligence tip-off about the arrival of the consignment. Deputy Coll­ector Imran Rasool was deputed to block the clearance of the goods on the shipment’s arrival, they said.

However, the information about the consignment being blocked at the terminal was leaked. The customs authorities then made a tactical move and cleared the station for transition of goods. Yet, said the sources, the consignment did not arrive.

After waiting for a couple of days, the customs authorities were informed that the importers were planning to change the consignment contents with the connivance of the AICT and the customs staff deputed at the terminal.

The collector directed his deputy to raid the AICT where he saw that the cargo contents were already being changed. The staff had illegally opened 13 pallets without the collectorate appra­isement’s permission.

The customs official found that the consignment had been misdeclared and sensitive electronic equipment, including special long-distance mobile phones and anti-jammers, were being cleared under the garb of refrigerator parts, dyes and garments.

An FIR was lodged, but no arrest was reported till late into the night.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2018