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An utter negligence has been reported in the clearance of 'acetic anhydride' - a chemical what the customs officials claim as one of the major substance in heroin and also used for making Improvised Explosive Device (IED) - as the customs department is clueless about the delivery details of around 8000 kilograms of this perilous chemical out of 14,000 kilograms, it was learnt on Thursday.
Although, the Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement (East) has lodged an FIR and booked two customs staff as 'facilitators' in the clearance of the said chemical, out of the total 14,000 kilograms of the chemical imported from the UAE, only 6,000 kilograms had so far been recovered, sources said.
They said that Customs had so far appeared oblivious about the delivery details of rest of the 8,000 kilograms of the chemical that had led to fears of any terror incident or transportation of a huge quantity of heroin within or outside the country. According to the FIR, a chemical consignment was cleared through mis-declaration of description, classification, value of the goods and violation of the Import Policy Orders.
It said that Goods Declaration (GD) was assessed without consulting the test report of customs house laboratory. However, the assessment officer (appraiser) as per requirement of law is supposed to call the test report for assessment finalisation but the officer completed the assessment sans test report that led to GD out of charged, illegally.
On the other hand, the lab report, issued on December 20, 2015, confirmed the samples as 'Acetic Anhydride'. But surprisingly, this test report could neither reach the concerned assessing officer nor the Deputy Collector of the relevant assessing group, following the involvement of one of the custom clerks in this illicit business.
The department is of the view that if the accused clerk forwarded the lab report to the concerned assessing group, the impugned goods would have not been cleared. Meanwhile, the sources said that import of 'Acetic Anhydride' was admissible for the concerned industrial consumers after obtaining NOC from the ministry of narcotics control. However, the quantity to be imported by the industrial consumers will be determined by the FBR and for the concerned pharmaceutical units by the ministry of health.
They said that the whole episode of the clearance of the chemical had also confirmed the involvement of appraising and lab staff in it. The sources further said that in another similar case, Model Customs Collectorate (MCC), Preventive, had seized 21.7 metric tons of 'acetic anhydride' worth Rs 860 million on January 12, 2016.
They said that the MCC Preventive, claimed to have established biggest ever seizure of acetic anhydride in anywhere across the globe but this chemical, said to be one of the major substance for the manufacturing of IED and for heroin production, had been lying at port since November 2015 and the MCC Preventive remained asleep till the same was not shifted for auction. Moreover, the sources said that although five persons including apprising officer and a clerk had been taken into custody, the customs department in both cases had so far failed to take responsible persons to task with the best reason known to the authority.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2016

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