LAHORE: While marking the World Customs Day, the authorities on Friday destroyed a huge quantity of smuggled international liquor brands and other contraband goods, including cigarettes, at the Wahga border.

The goods were destroyed in an open area, near Customs House and the NLC terminal at Wahga in the presence of the senior customs officials and the public at large.

According to officials, bottles were destroyed by the bulldozer, while other items were burnt.

“Up to 8,367 liquor bottles were rolled to be crushed while the other contraband were burnt,” according to an official.

Meanwhile, the tobacco squad of the Regional Tax Office-II conducted two raids and seized 2,500,000 sticks of illicit cigarettes in two warehouses located in Sheikhupura.

The purpose of such actions is to create deterrence against the sale of counterfeit and non-duty/tax paid cigarettes, thus, providing a level-playing field to those manufacturers who pay their taxes and duties as per law, according to a spokesman.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2018