Acting President of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Muffasar Atta Malik has voiced his grave concern over rising incidents of imported goods' thefts during their clearance and examination process at all the ports of the city. In a statement issued on Wedneday, the KCCI chief urged the Ports and Shipping Ministry and Chairmen of all ports of the city to take notice of increasing incidents of theft of imported goods and order Port Security Force to take stringent measures to secure imported consignments so as to save the business community from huge losses.
Malik pointed out that the KCCI has received numerous complaints from importers who, while seeking the Chamber's assistance in bringing this pressing issue into the notice of concerned authorities, pointed out that although the issue of theft of imported goods been persisting for quite some time in small quantity, it has now assumed alarming proportion as around 10 to 12 cartons were being stolen from each container.
"Representatives of various trade associations, including Karachi Electronics Dealers Association (KEDA) and Pakistan Spare Parts Importers & Dealers Association (PASPIDA) have forwarded similar complaints and sought the KCCI's help in dealing with this issue", he added.
The KCCI chief suggested that security arrangements of imported consignments be intensified, besides the concerned authorities must also allow a representative of business community into the premises of port premises during clearance and examination process of imported goods to ensure that no incident of theft took place. He noted that the representatives of the business community are running their businesses in extremely insecure atmosphere due to poor law and order situation as well as the constant changes made in policies by Customs authorities.
He demanded of the authorities to take immediate measures to bring an end to the incidents of thefts at all ports of Karachi so as to restore the businessmen's confidence and to save `demoralised' importers from such unlawful activities of some unscrupulous elements.-PR