'Illegal' imports: TV channel faces prospects of confiscation of equipment, gadgets

Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation (DI&I)-Customs, Karachi on Friday raided BOL Media Group over non-compliance of its notice. According to sources, a notice under section 26 of Customs Act 1969 was served to BOL channel on May 25, 2015, asking to submit all records related to imported equipment along with Goods Declaration and other relevant documents including packing list, bill of lading, letter of credit, air-shipment bill, etc.
Sources said that deadline given to BOL Media Group for the submission of all relevant import documents ended on May 28, 2015 but no document was produced by the BOL management. Therefore, a team comprising Director Asif Margoob, Additional Director, Nadeem Ahsan, Deputy Director Amjad Rajpur, Haji Muhammad Aslam, etc raided BOL to get explanation for non-compliance.
They said that department had information that BOL Media Group had imported different equipment including gadgets, servers, cameras, up-linking equipment, etc through illegal channels and added that Friday's exercise had been done in order to verify the veracity of the information. "Although a team headed by Director Asif Margoob Siddiqui has acquired formal permission from Magistrate Ibrahim Hyderi for this raid, they faced stiff resistance from BOL and Axact employees on their arrival," they said. "Later the team was allowed to enter in BOL channel premises after formal negotiations with the management," sources added. They said that team had visited seventh and ninth floors of BOL channel where the broadcast equipment was installed.
They further said that no equipment was confiscated as BOL management had given a rationale that all records related to equipment imports were in Axact Building, which had been sealed by FIA. Moreover, they said that the team had allowed one more day to the channel and a detailed inspection would be conducted on May 30, 2015 (today) and added that if illegal imports of broadcast equipment was found, all accessories would be confiscated and a case would be registered for the recovery of evaded taxes.
When contacted, Asif Margoob Siddiqui, director, DI&I, Customs, Karachi confirmed to have conducted a raid on BOL channel, saying that "although we have search warrant from concerned magistrate, BOL & Axact employees showed stiff resistance to avoid the search. Later, after the formal negotiations with BOL management, the team inspected the equipment installed in BOL channel. He said that no equipment was confiscated as BOL management had given a rationale that all records related to equipment imports were in Axact Building, which was sealed by FIA. Moreover, Asif said that this exercise could not be completed in a day or two; the team would again visit on Saturday (May 30, 2015) for further inspection.