Pakistan Customs officials at the Collectorate of Customs Enforcement Karachi foiled an attempt to smuggle foreign cloth worth PKR 65 million into the country under the guise of used clothes.
Syed Irfan Ali, a spokesman for the Customs, said Monday that Collector Customs Enforcement Moinuddin Ahmed Wani had received intelligence about the smuggling operation, which involved foreign cloth being transported from Balochistan under the false description of used clothes.
Following this tip-off, instructions were issued to the Anti-Smuggling Organization (ASO) teams to closely monitor containers departing from Karachi and to inspect any suspicious shipments. ASO staff was also ordered to increase patrols and remain on high alert.
A patrol team stopped a trailer with registration number JP-8287 on the RCD Highway, which was carrying a 40-foot container. The driver provided a transporter’s bill that claimed the cargo was used cloth, booked from Karachi to Lahore.
Upon inspection, however, the team found rolls and bundles of new foreign cloth inside the container, contradicting the documents provided. The trailer was then taken to the ASO warehouse, where further examination revealed a variety of smuggled fabrics, including 2,170 kg of old clothes, 2,500 kg of sofa cloth, 11,755 kg of J-card fabric, 2,600 kg of embroidered net fabric, and 1,400 kg of embroidered dyed textile fabric.
