According to a Business Recorder news item, the proposed law has empowered the law enforcement agencies and customs to impose heavy fines on smugglers of foreign currency, gold/silver, precious stones, sugar, onions, pulses, salt, potatoes, gur, rice, wheat/flour, chemical fertilisers, livestock, maize, edible oil and therapeutic goods.

It is increasingly clear that surge in Covid-19 cases will certainly lead to shortages, however modest, of essential items, providing a golden opportunity to hoarders to stockpile or accumulate large quantities of goods and materials for unfair profits. The situation will also help smugglers do a ‘roaring’ business by carrying out acts of taking goods from the country illegally. This proposed law, therefore, must be turned into a reality to defeat the nefarious designs of smugglers in particular.

Samina Raheem (Karachi)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021