RAWALPINDI: Cus­­­toms officials on Monday thwart­­ed an alleged attempt to smuggle 199 expensive mobile phones worth Rs20 million into Islamabad from Sharjah with the connivance of two officials, from Anti-Narcotics Force and Customs.

The Customs raiding party had to face strong retaliation from the ANF staff when one of their fellows was caught and mobile phones were recovered from his procession.

They managed to get him freed on a written surety by an ANF assistant director that the culprit, Zulfiqar, would be produced whenever re­­quired for investigation.

In an FIR, Customs Inspector Fraz Hussain Akhtar said that Naveed Elahi, the collector of Customs at Islamabad International Airport, had received an information that some people would try to smuggle a large quantity of mobile phones into Islamabad from Sharjah by flight PK-182.

After receiving the information, a raiding party comprising Assis­tant Collector Customs Farhad Ullah, and other officers started surveillance of passengers.

During the surveillance, the Customs staff scanned the baggage of two passengers — Imran Tahir and Mohammad Fiaz Saddique — and recovered the mobile phones.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2023