KARACHI, June 12: Customs officials raided a bungalow in PECHS and recovered a sizable quantity of menthol crystal granules and other goods — said to be worth around Rs12.7 million — that had been detained for valuation and classification but taken away from the customs hall on Sunday night, says a handout.

According to a customs release, during the baggage checking of passengers arriving here from Dubai by PIA flight No.PK-208, some of them were found carrying the goods weighing about 800 kilograms in their hand-carry baggage.

The officials on duty were directed to detain the goods pending valuation and classification of the “non-bona fide baggage”.

The release said that some unscrupulous elements forced their entry into the customs hall and managed to take away the goods “in connivance with their accomplices who bypassed the security line of the ASF staff”. However, a passenger, Muhammad Saleem, was arrested at the scene, it said.

According to customs officials, a special team headed by two Assistant Collectors, Inamullah Wazir and Muhammad Aftab, traced out and recovered the illegally taken away baggage during a raid conducted on a bungalow in Block-3 of PECHS on Monday.

The customs handout stated that the premises was searched under Section 163 of the Customs Act, 1969 and a sizable quantity of smuggled/non-duty-paid merchandise goods including menthol crystal granules, printing PC-202, 198 printing cartridges, 872 refill rolls, sharp imaging film impressions etc was seized. It put the approximate value of the goods at around Rs12.7 million.

Some wooden boxes having stickers of ‘Afghan

Transit’ affixed on them indicated that the bungalow was being used as a storage facility for a variety of smuggled goods, said the handout.

Two suspects, Abdul Rauf and Muzaifa Rauf, were arrested during the raid, it added.

The goods recovered from the premises were taken into custody in the presence of their claimant/owner after completion of legal formalities, it said, adding that an FIR No.Misc/01/2012-JIAP had been registered against the suspects, financiers and their associates for violating customs laws.