ISLAMABAD: The government has empowered the authorised officials to conduct raids and search the premises of those who are allegedly involved in smuggling of currency and essential food items in a bid to control illegal flow of goods and currency from the country’s eastern and western borders.

These powers and other measures, including penalties, will be implemented through a presidential ordinance, Covid-19 (Prevention of Smuggling), 2020, for a period of four months, which upon its expiry will become a part of the federal budget for the year 2020-21.

The authorised officials can also seize goods as well as auction them in accordance with the prescribed procedures. The proceeds of the auction will be deposited in the government exchequer. The officials will exercise these powers within a distance of five kilometres from any international border or within the premises of all airports.

Action will be taken under ‘Covid-19 (Prevention of Smuggling), 2020’ ordinance

The Federal Board of Revenue will notify in the next couple of days all those departments, authority and agency, including security or law enforcement agencies, officers of which will exercise such powers. These include police, the Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence, Federal Investigation Agency, Coast Guards, Intelligence Bureau, Frontier Constabularies, Frontier Corps, Levies and Rangers.

The items that will be covered within the purview of smuggling are foreign currency, gold and silver, precious stones, sugar, onions, pulses all sorts, salt, potatoes, gur, rice, wheat, flour all sorts, chemical fertilisers all sorts, livestock, maize, edible oil, hydrogenated or otherwise, therapeutic goods — drugs or alternative medicine or medical devices or biological or other related products.

The government will give reward equivalent to 10 per cent of the amount transferred to the government exchequer to informers. The amount will be raised from auctions of goods or foreign currency deposited in the government kitty.

Any person can qualify for a reward if he/she provides information to an officer with regard to any act or acts of smuggling which results in conviction and transfer of funds to the government kitty. Officials of federal, provincial or local governments cannot avail the facility of the reward.

Under the ordinance, the government has also elaborated the role of district administrations in terms of containing smuggling. Any official of district administrations not below the rank of BPS-17 can communicate infor­­m­ation to Customs officials with regard to any contravention. The Customs officials are bound to process the information and take appropriate action.

The authorised officers can arrest a person without warrant and detain by an order in writing against those who are engaged or likely to engage in any act of transaction of smuggling or facilitate such an act or known as a habitual smuggler. The deputy commissioner will issue a detection order. The detained person can make a representation to the commissioner of the division. The maximum detection period is three months.

Offence of smuggling

The people involved in the smuggling will be liable to imprisonment for a term of two years in case the value of the confiscated goods is between Rs500,000 and Rs3 million. The punishment will be for a period of three years maximum if the value of the smuggled goods is between Rs3m and Rs5m. However, imprisonment will not be less than two years.

In case the value of the smuggled goods ranges between Rs5m and Rs7.5m, the imprisonment will be a period of five years maximum. The imprisonment will not be less than two-and-a-half years.

The people involved in the smuggling will face a maximum imprisonment of 10 years if the value of the confiscated goods is between Rs7.5m and Rs10m. The imprisonment will not be less than three years.

In case the value of the smuggled goods exceeds Rs10m, the people invol­ved will face an imprisonment term not exceeding 14 years. However, imprisonment will not be less than five years.

In the same way, the people involved in smuggling of foreign currency in the range of up to $10,000 or equivalent in value (the currency of other denomination) will be liable for imprisonment for a maximum of two years. However, this provision will not apply to those people who will take out the currency from the country through notified routes under the Customs Act.

The imprisonment will be three years in case the value of a currency is from $10,000 to $20,000. The imprisonment will not be less than two years. And the imprisonment will be five years in case the value of a currency is from $20,000 to $50,000. The imprisonment will not be less than two-and-a-half years.

The imprisonment will be 10 years in case the value of a currency is from $50,000 to $100,000. The imprisonment will not be less than three years. And in case of the maximum penalty, the imprisonment will be 14 years for those who smuggle currency in the range between $100,000 and $200,000. However, imprisonment will not be less than five years.

Besides the existing Customs special court, the government will set up special courts in consultation with the Chief Justice of Pakistan. The power of special court will be accorded to any sessions judge or additional sessions judge and will specify their area of jurisdiction.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2020