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SIALKOT, Feb 8: Senior customs and dryport officials on Saturday denied any involvement of their staff in the explosion on Sambrial dryport in which 17 people were killed on Feb 4.
Dryport customs additional collector Khawar Farid Manika, dryport’s present chairman Chaudhry Ashraf and former chairman Sadiq Lone told this scribe that police were wrongly implicating their staff in the case.
Mr Manika claimed that cartons were being unloaded when the incident occurred. If customs inspector Najamul Hasan and dryport labourers who were killed in the explosion knew what was in the containers, they would not have lit cigarettes, he added.
He said the containers blew up before the customs officials could check what they contained.
He said police were trying to hold the customs and dryport officials responsible for the blast. They were continuously harassing customs officials posted at dryport, he maintained.
He said police have registered a case against customs and dryport officials on the report of clearing agent and union council Nazim Afzal Shaheen. He claimed that Shaheen was involved in smuggling cars and his licence has been cancelled by the department.
He said according to the customs record, the importers had been doing the business for the last two years.
Mr Manika suggested a judicial inquiry into the incident.
Mr Ashraf and Mr Lone also ruled out the involvement or negligence of dryport’s officials. They expressed their dissatisfaction over police investigation and demanded a judicial inquiry.
Dryport general manager Salim Sheikh said the dryport management has started contacting international agencies for improving security system at the port.
He said six containers were blown up in the explosion and imported items worth over Rs4.5 million were destroyed.
Meanwhile, officials of joint police, customs, CBR, dryport and other secret agencies told this scribe that the pace of investigation has been sped up.
Daska DSP Navid Anwar Baloch said police have taken the record of customs department and dryport into custody besides arresting clearing agents Sheikh Haseeb and Muhammad Khalil.
He expressed the hope that the case would be solved soon and real culprits arrested.
GUJRANWALA DIG: Malik Iqbal, in the meantime, denied that police were unduly harassing anybody.
The DIG said in order to trace the culprits, police have initiated investigation from different angles.
He said police have sought the Central Board of Revenue’s help to find a clue to the culprits.
DIG Iqbal claimed that he himself saw words “highly inflammable” written on a burnt container during inspection.
He said according to police investigation, the importer firm, Blue Apple International (Pvt) Ltd, and the importers were fake. They imported containers on fake documents, he added.
