GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan Collectorate of Customs collected a record revenue of Rs5.525 billion from Sost dry port as duties and other taxes on goods imported from China through the Khunjerab Pass during July-December this year.

GB Collector Customs Mohammad Arshad Khan told Dawn that the collectorate had collected Rs2.287bn more than last year’s collection of Rs3.238bn, an increase of 71 per cent. He said the six-month collection even exceeded the total revenue of Rs5.126bn collected during the last fiscal year (FY23).

A record amount of Rs2.132bn was collected in November this year against Rs340 million collected during the same month last year. The collectorate collected a record amount of Rs1.543bn in terms of customs duty, a surge of 257pc against a target of Rs600m.

Arshad Khan said that in line with the directives by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman, the member customs and the chief collector customs, he had issued explicit instructions to his staff soon after assuming charge in September that no lapse or negligence leading to evasion of duty/taxes or smuggling of contraband goods will be tolerated.

“Resultantly, best possible efforts were put in by the whole team to ensure facilitation and speedy processing of import goods clearance without compromising on revenue collection,” he added.

On the anti-smuggling side, the collectorate’s enforcement team successfully intercepted and seized a large quantity of contrabands/smuggled goods, including mobile phones and liquor, and registered cases against 23 smugglers and framed charges against three during the period under review.

Under the Border Protocol Agreement 1985, the Pakistan-China border Khunjerab Pass is closed on November 30 and opened on April 1 every year for clearance of commercial import/export goods.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2023