Smuggled betel nuts worth Rs130mn seized in Customs crackdowns

KARACHI: The crackdown against smuggled betel nuts by the Anti-Smuggling Organization (ASO) of the Collectorate of Customs Enforcement has confiscated over Rs 130 million worth of the condiment during the last 30 days, ARY News reported Tuesday quoting Customs statements.

According to details ASO shared, a loaded trolley carried 33,950 kilograms of betel nuts, smuggled into Pakistan, and was intercepted near Metroville, SITE Area on September 02, 2021. The total amount as per current market rates is Rs57.24 million.

Preceding this was a bid on August 23 wherein about 4,500 kilograms of betel nuts were recovered from an Afghan export cargo wherein the smuggler hid them under the layer of apricots. The seizure amounts to Rs25.15 million.

Similarly, two buses and a car were intercepted from where 8,180 kilograms of betel nuts were seized. The ASO’s exploits translated to Rs49.7 million.

The department said it made the betel nuts crackdown on volume worth Rs. 132.10 million in the past 30 days.

The new tactics and mode of concealment employed by the smugglers were being hacked into, the department said and noted that stricter measures are being put in place.

Passenger with 1.5kg gold, cash dodges airport screening, boards plane

Separately on the smuggling front in Peshawar, the Customs authorities arrested today a passenger for allegedly trying to smuggle gold and foreign currency out of the country at Peshawar’s Bacha Khan airport.

The passenger, dodging security checks and screening at the airport, boarded a foreign airline’s Dubai-bound plane.