Bogus registration of non-custom paid, smuggled vehicles in ET&NC

The bogus registration of vehicles under the amnesty scheme could not be stopped at the office of the Excise Taxation and Narcotics Control (ET&NC) Department located in the DHA of provincial capital.

Well-maintained sources in the motor branch of DHA revealed that some of the staff here was involved in the disgusting business of non-customs paid and smuggled vehicle registration.

They informed that DEO, motor branch DHA, allegedly issued challan of vehicle number LES-14-8931 Toyota Hiace on May 30, 2014 at the request of ETO Nadeem Yousuf whereas the vehicle was smuggled and could not be registered even after 8 years. But instead of canceling the vehicle, ETO through his subordinate Azmat treated the vehicle as a registered vehicle on December 2, 2020 and also illegally issued a vehicle token tax challan.

Sources also informed that when all these situations came to the notice of Director Region C, he confirmed in writing this “action” of DHA branch but did not take any action against anyone.

It is pertinent to mention here that this was not the first case of illegal registration of stolen and smuggled vehicles under the guise of amnesty scheme at DHA motor branch, earlier the ETO, Inspector and other staff have also registered stolen and smuggled vehicles.

In the light of the written information provided by Motor Registration Authority (MRA) of DHA, the vehicle number LE-19A-7816 was mentioned in the pre-registration verification letter issued to MRA DHA by the Customs Office Multan on 30 August 2019 that the name of the said vehicle was changed by MRA and registered it as Honda Fit Aria.

Similarly, Customs House Karachi sent Caesar report of vehicle number LE-19A-7211 to MRA DHA on 25th October 2019 but MRA ignored the report and registered the vehicle on 24th October 2019.

Moreover, Customs Office Multan has issued pre-registration verification letter of vehicle number LE-19A-448 on October 17, 2019 but DHA motor branch allotted the number to the vehicle on October 2, 2019, just 15 days before the verification letter.

Furthermore, Customs Office Karachi issued pre-registration verification letter of vehicle number LEH-19-8154 on September 17, 2019 but DHA Motor Branch allotted the number to the vehicle on August 29, 2019, 19 days before the verification letter.

“Not only that but in the verification letter the engine number of the vehicle is stated as INZ-FE395228 which starts with the letter ‘I’ but the engine number of the vehicle is registered as 1NZ-FE395228 in the records of DHA Motor Branch which starts with ‘1’ instead of the English letter I. Similarly, according to the pre-registration verification letter issued by the Customs Office Hyderabad on February 26, 2019, the engine number of vehicle number LET-19-1325 is IRZ-0226970 while DHA Motor has registered the engine number 3Y2162013 of the vehicle while registering. However, there is no record of engine change in the computer at the time of registration,” they informed.

When Profit contacted Rana Qamarul Hassan, Director, ET&NC, he informed that the cases of these vehicles were old and the department has already responded to the concerned departments.

“We first verify the vehicle and then register it. However, if any staff member is found involved in any illegal activity, strict action is taken against him,” he maintained.