Bid to smuggle cell phones foiled, four held

The Airport Customs staff of Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) Islamabad arrested four passengers from Dubai, who made an attempt to smuggle a large consignment of expensive smart cell phones through VIP Lounge of Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIAP).
It is learnt that customs staff at the airport has arrested 4 smugglers from the VIP Lounge, who were making an attempt to smuggle over 1600 phones having value over 20 million. The simultaneous arrest of four smugglers at Islamabad airport is a major successful anti-smuggling operation against the smugglers of mobile phones. The smuggling of cell phones from Islamabad airport has been almost totally eliminated due to repeated seizures of the phones during 2016, sources said.
On information passed by the Collector Customs to Naeem Anwar Superintendent Customs four suspicious passengers carrying hand luggage were checked at Rawal Lounge by Muhammad Ejaz Inspector vigilance wing. The passengers travelled through PK 234 arriving from Dubai. The scanning of the baggage of passengers, namely Muhammad Falsal Memon, PP No BC8919574 Karachi; Nazeer Abdullah, PP No AE0208124 Karachi; Nazeer Abdullah, PP No HC9828231 Kohat and Waqas Umar PP No BH2225622 Kohat lead to the recovery of 1645 Smart phones of assorted brands and 10700 memory cards. All the passengers have been arrested and FIRs have been launched with the Thana Investigation and Prosecution Branch, Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) Islamabad. The market price of the seized phones is estimated to be around Rs 20 million.
It is second major case of the Customs Staff at Benazir International Airport (BBIA), Islamabad during the current month, 20kg of heroin was detected from British National on 17th July 2016.
The Collectorate has started an intensive anti-smuggling campaign at BBIA under the leadership current Collector of Customs, MCC Islamabad.
From January 2016 till now, Collectorate has made seven cases of smart phones leading to recovery 3732 mobiles valuing Rs 27.28 million; 4 cases smuggling of Foreign Currency valuing Rs 15.23 million and 4 cases of Heroin (25.68kg) valuing Rs 210.8 million.