The Federal Board of Revenue Member Customs FBR, Muhammad Riaz has said that a major chunk of the federal excise duty (FED) comes from local cigarette industry and elimination of smuggling would add billions of rupees to the exchequer.
While addressing the "Enforcement of Anti-Smuggling Laws in Pakistan - National Enforcement Dialogue" held here on Thursday, Member Customs said that the FBR's teams are performing their duties in this regard and general public and retailers are also being educated on the issue through media campaigns. He said that different teams of Directorate General of Intelligence and Investigation (I&I) have conducted raids in different cities to confiscate smuggled cigarettes of Pine brand and strict action has been taken against the elements involved in its smuggling and trade. Currently, Pine cigarettes are being smuggled from Iran and Afghanistan and the government has also contacted the Korean government to eliminate smuggling of these cigarettes, he added.
Federal Minister for Interior Malik Habib Khan has said that smuggling has become a cancer for the national economy and Law enforcement agencies should collaborate to check this menace.
The minister said that the law enforcement agencies are currently occupied with fighting against internal and external terrorism but impeding smuggling is high on our priority list. Commenting on rising level of smuggling in cigarette industry, the minister said that FBR, Police, FC and other law enforcement agencies need to work closely in collaboration through joint task forces and should explore Public-Private-Partnership models for capacity building and support.
Addressing the event, Federal Minister for Law, Ahmar Bilal Sufi said that Police has the authority to act against smuggled goods under the existing laws but faces problems in enforcement for various reasons. He added that different law enforcement agencies should collaborate against cigarette smuggling and inter-agency coordination urgently needs to be improved.
Inspector General of National Highways and Motorways Police Zafar Iqbal Lak said that the Motorways Police is performing its role in stopping smuggling via the highways network. Motorways Police has to date confiscated millions of rupees worth of goods being smuggled on Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway, he added. Lak stressed the need of reducing Customs duty and increasing Income Tax.
Additional Director General FIA Khalid Qureshi said that special courts need to be established to deal with smuggling and illicit trade cases so that these can be swiftly decided. He stressed the need of using media to create mass awareness against illegal trade and property rights issue. He added that programs should be initiated to build the capacity of law enforcement agencies and judiciary.
Additional IG Punjab Sarmad Saeed Khan, DIG Frontier Constabulary Iftikhar Khan, DIG Mardan Jaffar Khan, SSP Traffic Lahore Tariq Qureshi, Director I&I FBR Tanveer Ahmed, DIG National Police Bureau Aleena Iqbal, SSP National Police Academy Muhammad Kashif, Commandant Police College Sihala Khalid Mehmood, DPO Haripur Najeeb-ur-Rehman, DPO Sargodha Sultan Chaudhry, SSP Operations Rawalpindi Mujahid Akbar, Senior journalists Salim Safi, Kashif Abbasi, Absar Alam, Shahzeb Khanzada and Javed Chaudhry also participated in the dialogue.