*ISLAMABAD: Rs35 billion worth of smuggled items were seized during July-January 2020/2021 as against Rs22 billion worth of such items confiscated during last year’s corresponding period, data released by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) showed.*
The FBR said the value of the items seized during the first seven month of the current fiscal year is almost equal to that of confiscated commodities during the entire previous year, which totaled Rs36 billion.
It said Rs11.2 billion worth of non-custom paid vehicles were confiscated during the July-Jan period.
The confiscated items include betel nuts worth Rs3.4 billion, clothes Rs1.9 billion, cigarettes Rs553 million, electronic items worth Rs380 million, diesel Rs899 million and Rs271 million worth of ornaments and jewels.
The FBR said the confiscation of smuggled betel nuts saw an increase of 105 per cent, clothes 28pc, cigarettes 70pc, auto parts 113pc, electronic items 67pc, diesel 93pc, and ornaments and jewels 104pc,
It also confiscated six million tonnes of iodine used in drugs production and sealed as many as 2,000 illegal pumps.