HARIPUR, Jan 20: Importers on Saturday complained about the sluggish pace of goods clearance, accusing officials of customs and other agencies of trying to coerce them into paying bribes , saying a convoy of 50 trucks laden with merchandise had been withheld for the past nine days.

This was claimed by a representative of importers, Sheikh Ejaz Ahmed of Lahore, while talking with journalists here. He said that the convoy contained items, including toys, base oil and other goods, imported from China by him and a group of five others.

They said that they had gotten their consignment properly assessed by customs authorities at the Sust border checkpoint, adding they had gotten 17 trucks cleared at the checkpoint after having paid over Rs1.2 million in duty besides undergoing other formalities in this regard.

Customs officials, he said, had stopped their convoy at Haripur on the pretext of re-evaluating their goods for imposing duty afresh, adding they were being harassed as they had paid the duty in full after having their goods correctly appraised.

He said importers were not responsible if the goods were under-assessed. Accusing officials of the customs intelligence of demanding bribe, they said four of their trucks had been cleared after their (customs officials) demand for illegal gratification was met by owners of these trucks.

They said that they were made to pay over Rs35,000 to the police and forest officials at different checkpoints falling between Thakot and Haripur, adding they would have to pay in a similar way all the way to Lahore.

He dispelled the impression that they paid money to customs and police officials because they had paid an improper amount of duty on their goods, saying that they only paid to avoid inordinate delays, adding: "If we don't pay them (customs officials), they unload the trucks, damaging goods and wasting out time," said Mr Saleem, another importer.

When drivers of 32 other impounded trucks were contacted, they expressed similar views about officials of the customs intelligence department. Sakhi Jan, one of the drivers, said the convoy of trucks was impounded by officials of customs intelligence staff from Haripur after they had reached Mansehra, where their customs escort accompanying them from the Sust check-post had left them.

He said drivers were told they had been stopped just for verifying import documents. When the superintendent of customs intelligence and investigation was approached for comments, he refused to meet newsmen while another on-duty official expressed ignorance about the matter.