FBR: 24,000 Nato containers missing

[unicorn]

 

[lem34]

Please translate I cant read urdu. But headline sounds brilliant

 

[unicorn]

FBR confirms 24,000 containers missing from Karachi Port
Wednesday, September 07, 2011

ISLAMABAD: Thousands of Nato, ISAF and US Military containers have reportedly gone missing inside Pakistan during the last four years amid serious fears that many of these may have contained arms and ammunitions, which may have gone to terrorists.

Almost corroborating the grave charges levelled by dissident Sindhi PPP leader Dr Zulfiqar Mirza that a senior minister of MQM was responsible for these missing containers being in-charge of Ports and Shipping Ministry, sources in the Federal Board of Revenue say in addition to more than 24,000 missing containers of Afghan Transit Trade Commercial side, thousands of the unchecked containers belonging to Nato, ISAF and US Military had left the Karachi Port, but did not cross the Pak-Afghan border during the last four years. The sources, however, did not name any one for this missing cargo, as alleged by Dr Mirza.

The sources said an inquiry committee is presently investigating the matter to ascertain the exact number of Nato, ISAF and US Military’s non-commercial containers that have disappeared during these years without any knowledge of the authorities about the contents in these containers. However, the sources apprehend that the missing containers were loaded with huge quantities of arms and ammunitions.

The MQM, however, strongly denied the allegations at a news conference addressed by former Karachi Nazim Mustafa Kamal and said if containers were stolen there would have been some FIRs registered and while police was under Zulfiqar Mirza as Home Minister why did he not stop this theft and lodge any FIR.

According to one of the sources, the number of missing Nato, ISAF and US Military containers is expected to be alarmingly high and possibly beyond one’s comprehension.

A spokesman for the FBR, when contacted, said the number of missing ATT commercial containers has so far been confirmed around 24,000 following which the FBR had already initiated action against the responsible.

The spokesman said a FBR committee is presently focusing on the missing containers of Nato, ISAF and US Military to get the exact number during the last four years. He, however, did not give any number for these missing containers and insisted that it would be speculative to quote the figure of thousands for the missing Nato, ISAF and US Military containers.

“We would quote the figure only when we have the precise number,” the spokesman said, adding in case of the missing Nato, ISAF and US Military containers the government would even take up the matter with the concerned embassies before giving any conclusive figure.

The spokesman admitted that there exist serious holes in the system, which led to the missing of tens of thousands of containers.

The sources, however, said the facility provided by the government of Pakistan for commercial and military imports for Afghanistan have been massively misused not only as a conduit for smugglers, but also for terrorists and the enemies of Pakistan.

“Nobody knows what was there in the missing containers of Nato, ISAF and US Military,” one of the sources said, lamenting despite these scandalous facts known to different authorities in the government, nothing has been done as yet to ascertain where these missing containers actually landed.

In July this year, FBR chairman Salman Siddique had informed the Supreme Court that over Rs47 billion were evaded as 23,882 containers of commercial category under Afghan Transit Trade (ATT) destined from Karachi port to Afghanistan were missing.

Besides, he admitted that record of 19,000 dispatched containers to Afghanistan through Chaman and Torkham borders under non-commercial category for ISAF from January 2007 to October was not found so another pilferage to national exchequer was also observed.

The FBR chairman also told the court that FIRs were lodged against the culprits including importers, clearing agents, terminal/port operators, custom officials, shipping agents, transporters on 147 containers missing incident whereas letter of explanation were also issued to the concerned officers.

 

[Sinnerman108]

This @ss infection had to wait for the number to get to 24,000 to report it ?

Why didn't he launch a case when the first container was missing ?

 

[Doctor09]

Oye satyanass kar dita oye.................

24000 containers ????? guys this is Pakistan.....no magician can do such tricks but Pakistani politician and corrupt bureaucracy can do this easily........chaaaaaa gaey shehzaday

 

[Norboo]

So where do these containers go? Here's the story. This isn't the first time it's happening. Thousands more have gone 'missing', the goods finding their way into Pakistani markets!

An international smuggling syndicate was busted by the Customs Intelligence on Monday and over 25 Customs officials, besides members of the gang, had been arrested, officials said.

As many as 13 officials are under the police custody, 21 Customs officials have been booked in Karachi (now allowed back on their jobs after a week-long suspension), 12 arrested in Peshawar and two in Lahore.

They had ganged up to evade duties and taxes of over Rs 230 billion in the past two years but those arrested were now exerting pressure to get the top Customs Intelligence officials removed from their posts and get the cases withdrawn.

At the Customs House, Karachi, as sources privy to the entire episode revealed, the suspected gang members were not just those booked but higher officials, too, who supervised clearance of the ISAF and Afghan Transit Trade (ATT) goods on fake papers (the containers never crossed Pak-Afghan border).

“These are influential officials and the gang they operate is well entrenched in the state machinery. They are not just making efforts to get the Customs Intelligence officials at the top and middle levels removed but have also launched a campaign through the FIA and other channels to get the Directorate General Customs Intelligence (DGCI) offices in Lahore vacated by exerting pressure on the owners of the buildings.”

In order to obtain the FBR version, this correspondent called its spokesman Israr Rauf repeatedly on Monday evening, but there was no response. The following SMS message was sent on his cell number (0300-8444212): “Why were Customs men booked in Karachi let off the hook? They were suspected of abetting the ISAF-container smuggling.”

DGCI, Lutfullah Virk, flatly refused to say anything. “Please, do not make calls to me again”, he said. Sources in Karachi and Peshawar, however, pointed out that the international syndicate of smugglers that operated in connivance with the Customs officials was actually busted when three tribal boys were caught from Torkham on the Pak-Afghan border about a month ago on suspicion of stealing the Customs computer user ID that helped access to the documentation operation of the ISAF and Transit Trade shipments from overseas to Afghanistan through Pakistan.

These three boys were the sons of tribesmen killed in a Customs-smuggler shootout about four years ago and were given Customs jobs under a government-jirga agreement as compensation.

They were working as helping staff and were frequent to the Customs offices at the border check-post where the computation of ISAF-ATT shipment-clearance documentation was routinely conducted.

As these boys sang to the investigators and coughed up the names of the technical staff that gave them out the user IDs, more arrests were made, as confirmed by Directorate General Customs Intelligence (DGCI), Islamabad.

Simultaneously, the DGCI was frustrated by the Karachi Customs as it was refused the relevant files helping its investigation on how more than 10,000 imported containers slipped off the records, mostly carrying banned items like liquor, auto-parts and other heavy-duty goods.


The ISAF-declared consignments started disappearing about two years ago, and the sources said that the efforts to abort the investigation were also going on as they were approaching FBR high officials to ensure that the entire exercise of detecting the missing containers and export of banned items was suspended so that the big and the small fish in this racket might not be touched.

The DGCI took up with higher authorities the issue of refusal by the Karachi Customs to provide records on these containers and also shared its conclusions of the investigation conducted into the missing containers so far. This activity coincided with three other important events:

a) The tribal boys revealed that most of the missing containers were ISAF-declared in Karachi, then Afghan Transit Trade shipments in Nowshera (on fake documents). These containers were shown having been transported outside Pakistan, while they were seal-opened, offloaded and the goods were sold out in the Pakistani markets.

b) An internal audit was conducted by the Peshawar Customs, which revealed that there existed a syndicate of smugglers that had penetrated into the department’s sensitive shipment-handling (duties-taxes collecting) data-monitoring-computing offices in Karachi, Peshawar, Nowshera and Torkhum, to ensure that the forged ISAF-shipment plus ATT-shipment papers of goods declaration were accepted as legal.


It is pertinent to mention that the names of officials that allowed them to use their ID, have not been listed properly by the relevant authorities. They included the deputy collector level Customs officials, superintendents and more than 10 inspectors. They form part of the smuggling syndicate but investigations are yet to be completed about them.

The story does not end here. DGCI officials recorded after cross checking of the export documents over the past couple of years that 70 containers out of 10,000 were confirmed to have been cleared on fake ISAF-ATT papers. Others too were allowed clearance by succumbing to the same trick applied by the international smugglers’ syndicate, which had penetrated into the fabric of Pakistan Customs.

A manager of the company has been arrested and several others booked, while the relevant Karachi Customs staffs were suspended. They went on strike and the FBR capitulated allowing them back on their jobs with a warning when the investigation was completed and indicated their involvement, they would be arrested and charged.

10,000 NATO Containers Go Missing in Pakistan | America at War

 

[lem34]

This couldnt have happend to someone who deserved it more. Americans deserve this.

 

[VCheng]

This couldnt have happend to someone who deserved it more. Americans deserve this.

So you think that Pakistanis do or do not deserve the free weaponry in those containers, to further improve the public peace inside Pakistan, I mean.

 

[lem34]

So you think that Pakistanis do or do not deserve the free weaponry in those containers, to further improve the public peace inside Pakistan, I mean.

Go to sleep Cheng (carrying on conversation from other thread.) Isnt it brilliant any loss to that muslim killer aka as america should be celebrated.

 

[VCheng]

Go to sleep Cheng (carrying on conversation from other thread.) Isnt it brilliant any loss to that muslim killer aka as america should be celebrated.

What "loss"? Did it occur to you that the intention could be to dump lots of arms inside Pakistan for "free"?

 

[fd24]

So you think that Pakistanis do or do not deserve the free weaponry in those containers, to further improve the public peace inside Pakistan, I mean.

Why do get pleasure at the thought of anything bad happening to Pakistan? Why do pretend to be Pakistani. Retard act you age and not your IQ size. Little troll
Back to the thread. Why the hell have they waited so long to report it?

 

[VCheng]

Why do get pleasure at the thought of anything bad happening to Pakistan? Why do pretend to be Pakistani. Retard act you age and not your IQ size. Little troll
Back to the thread. Why the hell have they waited so long to report it?

Because someone in FBR did not get their share of the proceeds this month?

 

[lem34]

Because someone in FBR did not get their share of the proceeds this month?

Americans are the suckers. can you imagine if you were losing so much in transit and still use that route. lol

 

[TARIQ BN ZIYAAD]

Assalam alaikum

yes why they waited for so long and the number is not a small one

TARIQ

 

[VCheng]

Americans are the suckers. can you imagine if you were losing so much in transit and still use that route. lol

Good point. So 24,000 containers out of how many total? And how many were ATT, and not ISAF?

The Pakistani COAS is on record boasting of a 99.9% reliability rate of transit for NATO goods through Pakistan.