KARACHI, Oct 14: The collectorate (preventive) of customs has registered a significant increase this year in the seizures of the goods prevented from being smuggled.

Collector of Customs (preventive) Musarrat Jabeen, speaking at a press conference at the Customs House here on Thursday, highlighted the six-month performance of the collectorate, pointing out that in the year 2003-04, a total of 214.56 kgs of heroin had been seized as compared to last year's haul of 75.24 kgs.

Similarly, she said, the collectorate seized 1281.04 kgs of charas this year in comparison to 230.75 kgs seized during the corresponding period last year. Ms Jabeen spoke of an increase of 9.93 per cent in the collection of customs duty and 11.6 per cent in the recovery of sales tax.

Referring to major seizures over the past six months, she said that 35,000 bottles of foreign liquor, 160,000 CDs, 323 tons of betelnut and 40,000 Buprenorphine injections of Indian origin had been seized. About workload at the Quaid-i-Azam International Airport, Ms Jabeen said that an average of two million passengers passed through the facility every year.