RAWALPINDI, March 15: Three employees of the Pakistan Railways’ Chaklala Dry Port have been arrested by the railway police for stealing confiscated goods from the dry port and selling them in the black market, the police and customs authorities said.

The three employees, including Manzoor Ahmed, the assistant transportation manager (ATM) of the dry port, and commercial assistants Saqib Butt and Shahjahan, were arrested by the police, when they were trying to refill the empty boxes of confiscated goods, apparently to cover up the crime, the police said.

A consignment of 18,000 expensive cigars had been imported by Shalimar Diplomatic Bonded Warehouse from Dubai and seized by customs officials on September 22, 2001, who had handed it over to the dry port’s railway staff for storage.

A senior customs official at the dry port said in his comments that the customs department was not responsible for the theft. Once the confiscated goods were handed over to the dry port railway staff, they became responsible for their safety, he added.

The scam came to light when the owner of the diplomatic bonded warehouse, Ihsan, saw the King Edward Imperial cigars — which had been imported by him — being sold in the open market on March 12, 2002, the authorities said.

Mr Ihsan brought the matter to the notice of the assistant collector and additional collector (customs) as well as the railways authorities.

The railway shed at dry port was opened and Mr Ihsan allowed to inspect the goods. Ihsan found out that 33 cartons containing cigars of different brands had been stolen.

When the authorities came to know that the scam had been unearthed, ATM Manzoor Ahmed lodged an FIR of the theft with the railway police, on Thursday afternoon.