The smuggling via the Afghan transit trade has registered a significant decline thanks to stricter and stern monitoring at Chaman border stations according to a senior Customs official.
The data reveals the number of containers carrying eight smuggle-prone items registered a decline of 64 pc year-on-year to 305 in the first half of the current financial year (i.e. July-December) from 852 a year earlier.
A number of containers in transit trade of textile fabric also fell to 27 in July-December 2016 as against 205 a year ago, recording a decrease of 87pc. The number of containers carrying used electronics goods also declined to 7 from 22.
The amount of imported containers bringing black tea fell to 72 from 170, of milk powder to 84 from 108, green tea to 59 from 93, engine oil to 10 from 18, and bicycles to four from 11 containers. No import of soap was made during the period.
The first nine months (July-March) of the current financial year, the Customs collectorate of Quetta has grabbed smuggled goods worth Rs1.095b as against Rs1.532b in the same period of the last year, registering a fall of 28.5pc. The total revenue generated through an auction of the smuggled goods also fell to 14pc to Rs582.3m from Rs679.4m a year ago.
Quetta has always remained an important market for the smuggling of used automobile parts which were primarily brought into Balochistan through the Afghan border.
A Customs official also mentioned that legal imports of used auto-parts have begun in large quantities since last year through the collectorate, which was a strong indicator that the items have shifted to the legal import regime. The net outcome of all these measures enforced according to the official was the achievement of the tax target projected for the first seven months of the fiscal year (July-January). The collection was recorded at Rs8.116b against the Federal Board of Revenue’s target of Rs7.355b for all four federal taxes, i.e. customs duty, sales tax, federal excise duty and income tax.
Customs official also stated that the authorities had embraced various procedures to get rid of confiscated goods, including destroying of narcotics and expired, banned and hazardous items. For rest of the goods, the reserve price gets determined after adding taxes to the value before they are opened for public auction.
All the checkpoints on the major routes leading to Quetta and other parts of the country have been re-enforced. New posts have been set up in Yaroo, Zhob, Rakhni and Darakhshan in Bolan to check the flow of contraband and smuggled goods from the province to other parts of the country.
