On directions of Chairman Federal Board of Revenue Mr. Asim Ahmad and Director General Customs Intelligence Mr. Faiz Ahmad Chadhar, crackdown against the cigarette smugglers have been intensified.
In the past twenty four hours, many raids have been carried out against the smugglers. In the wee hours of June 7, 2023, Customs Intelligence Karachi confiscated 250,000 sticks of cigarettes of foreign brands having value of Rs. 10 Million. In another successful raid, 4,00,000 cigarette sticks of foreign brands were confiscated from Saddar area of Karachi with a value of Rs.25 Million. Similarly 4000 sticks worth Rs. 4 Million and 1,050,000 sticks having total value of Rs. 30 Million were recovered from Multan and Dera Ismail Khan respectively.
Overall, during the last 24 hours, Customs Intelligence has confiscated 1,780,000 sticks of cigarettes of foreign brands including Pine Mini, Dunhill, Benson & Hedges, Inhale, Speed Blue and Royal Business with a value of Rs. 79 Million. Eradicating the menace of cigarette smuggling has remained a priority of the Customs Intelligence. Despite limited resources, Customs Intelligence has confiscated 39,187,000 sticks of cigarettes having a total value of Rs.1.093 Billion during the ongoing financial year 2022-23.
Chairman FBR Mr. Asim Ahmad and Director General Customs Intelligence Mr. Faiz Ahmad Chadhar have appreciated the successful raids in Karachi, Dera Ismail Khan, Peshawar and Multan and expressed optimism that Customs Intelligence will continue its crackdown against smuggling in general and the smuggled cigarettes in particular.
