Caretaker Prime Minister Anwar al-Haq Kakar has said that illegal smugglingand foreign currency trade pose a threat to Pakistan.
During an informal conversation with senior journalists, he revealed that27,000 Iranian oil-smuggled trucks were entering Pakistan illegally fromacross the border daily. Deputy Commissioners were receiving bribes rangingfrom 150,000 to 250,000 rupees per truck for their entry. DeputyCommissioners were also implicated in smuggling.
He mentioned that illegal movement across the border has almost ceased,though smuggling hasn’t completely stopped. He stated that military andcivil leadership had initiated a campaign against smuggling. This was thesecond campaign in the past three years, but this time the crackdown wassevere. It was his decision to stop Iranian oil smuggling to Pakistan, andthe Pakistan Army played a significant role in this large-scale crackdown.
Prime Minister further stated that before August, many people viewed thesmuggling of Iranian oil as legal. The ongoing smuggling in Balochistan wasgiven as the reason for continuing unemployment, which was intentionallyleft vacant for government employment. In 2020, the government at the timehad also initiated a crackdown against smuggling of goods from Iran, withan estimated annual loss of 2 billion dollars.
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He stated that the illegal supply of goods via routes in Balochistan toother parts of the country had ceased three years ago. As a result, 1674illegal POL retail outlets were sealed, 1155 FIRs were registered, and 781applications were submitted to freeze assets under the Customs Act.
He disclosed that only 11 items have caused a loss of nearly 3.5 billiondollars to the national treasury in terms of duties and taxes.