BAHAWALPUR/LAHORE: A customs team posted at the Multan airport recovered 78 iPhones worth millions of rupees from five hosts of a PIA flight from Dubai on Wednesday night.

According to a customs official, acting on a prior information they checked the luggage of PIA staffers — two hostesses and three stewards — and recovered 78 iPhones. The model of most of seized phones was said to be “iPhone 16 Pro Max”. The price of each set is over Rs500,000.

The customs official said statements of of the five were recorded while the mobile phones were seized. They were allowed to leave the airport since action against them would be taken after an inquiry.

A PIA spokesperson in Lahore confirmed the happening in Multan and said the airline would issue a press release. Meanwhile, PIA’s two employees who were caught for smuggling expensive cellphones from Canada were dismissed from service on Thursday.

According to a PIA spokesperson, the management has terminated air hostess Asifa Naz and flight steward Muhammad Mumtaz from service after their offence to smuggle mobile phones into Pakistan from Canada proved.

“During a course of inquiry both PIA employees were found guilty of illegally smuggling mobile phones. The management has made it clear that no leniency will be shown towards violations of its policies or the country’s laws,” he said.

Air hostess, stewards sacked for smuggling phones from Canada

Mobile phones were recovered from both employees by the Custom authorities at the Lahore airport in October last. They were operating PK-798 Canada-Lahore. Six and five mobile phones were recovered from the air hostess and the steward, respectively.

“Both were afforded an opportunity of personal hearing before the competent authority on Jan 22 through a video link. They appeared before it but failed to defend their position and produce any plausible reason to their defence,” he said.

Canada is a destination where a number of PIA cabin crew members had skipped in the past.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2025