The Customs Region (North) of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) collected Rs 5,231 million customs duty during first quarter (July-September) 2019-20 against Rs3,584 million collected during same period of 2018-19, reflecting an increase of 46 percent. According to the data released by the FBR's Customs Region (North) here on Tuesday, an amount of Rs 5,769 million was collected under the head of Sales Tax as compared to Rs 3,955 million collected during 1st Quarter of FY 2018-19 (46% higher).
As regards collection of all taxes is concerned, the North Region collected Rs 14,179 million during July-September, 2019 as compared to Rs 10,067 million during the corresponding period of last year, recording an increase of Rs 4,112 million (41%). The Customs Region (North) comprises four Collectorates ie, Model Customs Collectorates of Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, and MCC Appraisement and Preventive, Peshawar covering the whole of KPK as well as the merged districts of erstwhile FATA.
On the enforcement/ anti-smuggling side, the Customs Region (North) also performed exceptionally well despite severe constraints of logistics and personnel to cover the vast jurisdiction comprising almost three provinces. During the period July-Sept, 2019 the North Region seized huge quantity of smuggled and non-duty paid goods including vehicles, narcotics, currency and gold etc. to the tune of millions of rupees. Some of the major cases included: raid on a godown in a congested area of Faqir Abad, Peshawar to seize F/o Cloth & Cigarette (valuing Rs 33.78 million), interception of a vehicle containing F/o Cloth & Cigarette (valuing Rs 29.56 million) at Colonel Sher Khan Interchange on Motorway, seizure of F/O Gold Slabs (valuing Rs 11 million) at departure hall Torkham Customs Station and seizure of a parcel containing 800 gms of Brown Heroin Powder (valuing Rs 8.5 million) at IMO, Rawalpindi are few of the major seizures of Customs Region (North) during 1st Quarter of FY 2019-20.
It is pertinent to mention that a comprehensive strategy has been devised by all the Collectorates and each office has been given specific targets which are monitored by senior level officers regularly. Owing to this special focus, the flow of smuggled goods through major roads has been effectively frustrated. It is added that under directives from the FBR Hqs., special joint survey of major retail outlets have been launched in association with RTOs of Peshawar, Islamabad and Rawalpindi with effect from 01st September, 2019 to assess the quantum of smuggled goods available in markets. To this effect, joint teams of Peshawar Customs conducted survey of seventeen major retail outlets covering electronics shops, cloth stores and other consumer durables.
All the four Collectorates of Customs Region (North) contributed significantly in successfully attaining their respective revenue targets. Chief Collector Customs (North), Islamabad, Dr Asif Mahmood Jah (Sitara-e-Imtiaz) attributed this achievement to Allah's kindness besides the untiring efforts and hard work of the officers and staff of the Region under the dynamic leadership of Syed Muhammad Shabbar Zaidi, Chairman FBR and Dr Jawwad Uwais Agha, Member Customs (Operations) who kept a strong vigilance during the year and kept issuing regular instructions for maximizing revenue efforts through goods clearance, auctions, recovery of arrears and encashment of bank guarantees etc. He also expressed confidence that the Officers and staff will maintain this efficiency and put in their best possible efforts to continue to strive for such success in future as well. The Chief Collector Customs (North) further emphasized the officers and staff to ensure strict discipline, adopt austerity measures, honesty and unflinching enforcement of laws for the economic uplift of the country during the ongoing financial crisis faced by the country. Moreover, directions have also been issued to all Collectorates for weeding out corrupt and delinquent elements.
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