Bid to smuggle precious stones to Pakistan foiled at Karachi airport

KARACHI: Customs authorities on Saturday foiled a bid to smuggle precious stones worth over Rs11 million in the country at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, ARY NEWS reported.

According to Customs’ spokesman, the Karachi airport’s collectorate acted timely to foil a bid to smuggle precious stones from the airport.

“A suspicious parcel from a gulf country was seized at the Karachi airport and the authorities found precious stones worth around Rs11.1 million,” he said.

Seven different precious stones were recovered from a package booked as a textile material under the name of a woman named Shehzadi.

“We have expanded the sphere of the investigations to arrest suspects who would have to receive the parcel at the airport,” they said.

In January this year, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Customs have imposed strict conditions under baggage rules for the passengers after prohibiting 11 items and restricting the specific amount of foreign currencies while travelling abroad or towards domestic destinations.

Travellers on international and domestics must have knowledge of the prohibited and restricted items that are banned under the Export Policy and Procedure Order which sets limits for foreign currencies, whereas, Customs categorised items passengers should not carrying during flights.

The rules restrict a child aged 5 to travel abroad while possessing $1,000 or equivalent amount of foreign currency once or $6,000 in a year. The persons aged between 6-18 can carry $5,000 once or $30,000 in a year, whereas, the passengers aged above 18 can carry $10,000 once or $60,000 in a year.