LAHORE: A team of the Customs Directorate General of Intelligence & Investigation (I&I) on Monday raided a warehouse, set up at a private school, and seized smuggled goods worth Rs856m.

According to officials, Customs Additional Director Rizwan Bashir-led team, comprising deputy director Ali Asad and Superintendent Rai Waqar, was tipped off about smuggled goods at the warehouse on the Raiwind Road. It raided the site inside Think and Grow School on Raiwind Road, and recovered smuggled fabric, shoes, cosmetics, tools, furniture, toys, crockery and electronics.

The recovered goods included expired cosmetics worth Rs60m. The material related to removal of expiry dates and their substitution with new dates was also found. The goods included fabric of assorted colours in rolls weighing 64,480kg worth Rs320m, 14,896 litres of cosmetics (expired) worth Rs60m, shoes of assorted colours (15,981 pairs) worth Rs40m, electronics weighing 140kg worth Rs291m, 33,644 kg crockery worth Rs113m, furniture (2,250 pieces) worth Rs14m, battery-operated toys/scooters/cars and strollers (394 pieces) worth Rs10m, tiles brand cicogres (150 cartons) worth Rs4.5m, electric & manual tools (92 pieces) worth Rs1m and rechargeable scooties (two units) worth Rs0.5m.

Wares include 14,896 litres of expired cosmetics worth Rs60m

The officials termed the case a biggest ever in the history of Customs Directorate General (I&I), Lahore range, in terms of total value of goods.

“We have devised an anti-smuggling policy aligned with parameters of transparency and zero tolerance on smuggling,” Customs Intelligence & Investigation DG Faiz Ahmed Chadhar told Dawn.

He said an FIR had also been lodged for criminal investigation against the suspect, Zainullah Khan, the general manager of the warehouse, who was apprehended. It was not clear the suspect owns the school as well.

RUDA: The Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) organised a seminar at a private university to establish the public awareness matrix for the planned city along the river Ravi.

Ruda Executive Director (Commercial) Kashif Qureshi briefed the students on multiple projects like riverside establishment of forestation and wastewater treatment plants (WWTP).

Answering questions, the Ruda team explained that more than 1,000 cusecs of contaminated water would be pumped out into the river each day from the WWTPs at several locations in Mahmud Booti, Shadbagh and Shahdara areas.

The team said that according to a global report, the Ravi was one of the poisonous rivers of the world and using its water for agriculture would be dangerous to public health.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2022