LAHORE: Lahore Police on Thursday registered a case against a cigarette manufacturing company involved in illegal production of cigarettes in the market and playing havoc with the health of people with supply of substandard and hazardous products.
According to details, an FIR was registered seeking action by the Islampura police station in Lahore over violation of copyrights and other related provisions of the law.
The report has sought action against owners of Indus Tobacco Company, Mardan for illegally producing fake copies of the cigarette brand – Kisan King Size. Owners of the company involved in illicit trade include Abbas Khan, Nawaz and Bilal. The FIR pointed out that Saleem Printing Press, owned by Farrukh Riaz and Kashif Aslam, located at Barkat Road, Sagian was printing fake labels whereas the above mentioned tobacco company was involved in production and supply of the fake cigarettes in the market.
The counterfeit industry has damaged repute of the National Tobacco Company limited, whose all brands including the Kisan King Size cigarettes are registered. The company is doing business under the laws of the land making valuable contribution to the country’s economy.
On the other hand, the illicit tobacco trade is not only playing havoc with the health of millions of people, it is also one of the reasons for suboptimal revenue collection and pressure on the local tobacco industry. According to reports, KP Police had arrested the same people over the allegations of involvement in a fraud case of Rs40 million in Mardan on the complaint of farmers last year.
The farmers had stated that two years ago the two brothers Bilal Khan and Abbas Khan, owner of Indus Tobocco company purchased tobacco worth Rs40 million from them on the issuance of company vouchers.
