Pakistan customs seize 4,000 air conditioners

PAKISTAN: Over 4,000 air conditioners and electronic goods worth around €2.9m have been confiscated by Pakistan revenue authorities.

According to the Dawn website, Pakistan’s Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had arrested the owner of an Afghan firm and two general managers of a courier company in Islamabad and Lahore.

An FBR official said the consignments used to be transported from Karachi to the Afghan border in sealed containers and neither the bureau nor any other agency was authorised to check them.

He said the consignments were either offloaded in Karachi and then smuggled to other cities or taken across the border and then smuggled back.

The courier company’s premises were raided and about 2,000 air-conditioners and other equipment were seized. A further raid at the company’s Lahore warehouse found more equipment.

The involvement of FBR officials has not been ruled out.