According to the details issued by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) here on Monday, the seized goods included non-duty paid (NDP)Vehicles, Dry Fruit, Jewellery (gold ornaments), Smuggled Oil/ Diesel, Dry Milk, Foreign Origin Fabric, Narcotics, Tyres, Mobile Phones, Cigarettes, Electronics and Miscellaneous Goods. The Customs Region (North) comprises of four Collectorates i.e., Model Customs Collectorates of Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, MCC (Appraisement & Facilitation), Peshawar and MCC (Enforcement & Compliance), Peshawar covering Islamabad/ Rawalpindi, the whole of KP as well as the merged districts of erstwhile FATA. Though, all the four Collectorates of Customs Region (North) contributed significantly in successfully attaining their respective revenue and seizures targets, the performance of MCC (Enforcement & Compliance), Peshawar stood exceptional. The Collectorate has been able to seize goods worth Rs 4,116 million (including Rs 191 million of currency) during the above mentioned period which is 2,338 million (131%) more than the seizures made during the corresponding period of the last financial year.

On revenue front, Customs Region (North) collected Rs 39,990 million during the first 08 months of current financial year which is Rs 6,239 million (18%) more than the corresponding period of last financial year. This has been made possible with the vision of current government to maximize revenue collection through concerted efforts and business friendly approach despite import compression during the ongoing financial year.

Chief Collector Customs (North), Islamabad, Dr. Asif Mahmood Jah attributed this achievement to Allah's kindness besides the untiring efforts and hard work of all the officers and staff of the Region who maintained a strong vigilance for maximizing revenue through goods clearance, conducting regular auctions, recovery of arrears and encashment of bank guarantees etc. The Chief Collector also expressed confidence that all the officers and staff will maintain the same level of efficiency and put in their best possible efforts to continue such success in future as well. He further emphasized upon the officers and staff to ensure strict discipline, adopt austerity measures, honesty and unflinching enforcement of laws for the economic uplift of the country as per vision of the government, the FBR added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020