KHYBER: A technical fault in two electronic scanning machines halted the clearance of trade goods, except some perishable items, at Torkham border crossing on Saturday.

Sources at Torkham told Dawn that both scanning machines for export and imported goods went out of order on Friday evening, suspending electronic scanning of items loaded in hundreds of trucks on both sides of the border.

They, however, said that in the afternoon, customs officials allowed manual examination of vehicles loaded with fresh fruits and vegetables, fish and poultry as those items were prone to rapid decay due to hot weather.

Custom clearing agents argued that the repeated malfunctioning of the two scanners at the newly-built customs terminal was a constant source of trouble and financial losses to them since the electronic scanning of goods was made mandatory by both customs authorities and the National Logistic Cell (NLC) in the recent past.

Officials allowed manual examination of perishable items

Mujeebullah Shinwari, president of Torkham custom clearing agents association, alleged that while the NLC was charging every vehicle Rs8,000 for scanning and parking facility at the new custom terminal, they were constantly faced with repeated technical faults in the scanning machines and shortage of parking space.

Some clearing agents and transporters also accused the NLC of not issuing them the electronic images of their scanning process which they had undergone prior to the malfunctioning of both machines on Friday.

Sources said that the abrupt halt to the goods scanning process resulted in accumulation of hundreds of both loaded and empty vehicles on both sides of the border, causing problems for pedestrians and affecting the repatriation of illegal Afghans.

They added that a considerable number of truckers, taking transit goods to Afghanistan, had also opted to carry their consignment forward via the Torkham border instead of Chaman in anticipation of the approaching Eidul Azha as they felt it convenient to park their vehicles on the Afghan side of the border.

The sources said the truckers considered their vehicles more secure there, enabling them to take a break until Eidul Azha.

They said most vehicles with Afghan transit goods also got stuck on the Pakistani side of the border due to sudden fault in the scanning machine and the subsequent traffic congestion on both sides of the border.

Mujeebullah Shinwari argued that he had never heard of any such technical fault in electronic scanning machines installed at Ghulam Khan and Kharlaachi border points but at Torkham, they’re subjected to long delays in goods clearance by the NLC on the pretext of repeated malfunctioning of two scanners.

It was the second such incident in the last three days as customs officials pulled back on Thursday from all its posts near the border zero point after heated exchanges with border security guards over the goods clearance issue. The issue was resolved “amicably” the same day.

Meanwhile, people in the Sultankhel area of Landi Kotal blocked the main road to Torkham against the parking of a large number of loaded vehicles on both sides of the road.

The Sultankhel protesters accused the local police for their failure to regulate traffic on the main road.

They also alleged that the police took bribes from transporters for allowing them to proceed to Torkham out of turn.

Police officials, however, insisted that the congestion of the main road was a result of the suspension of goods clearance at Torkham due to a fault in the scanning machine and they would clear the road once the scanning machines were repaired.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2025