Customs Intelligence of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has seized 1,780,000 sticks of smuggled cigarettes valued at Rs. 79 million in four different operations in major cities including Karachi.

According to the details, under the guidance of FBR Chairman Asim Ahmad and the direct supervision of the Director General, Customs Intelligence, Faiz Ahmad Chadhar, Customs Intelligence has further beefed up its ongoing crackdown against smuggled cigarettes.

During the last 24 hours, four operations in three regions were conducted. Two operations were carried out by Customs Intelligence, Karachi. The first operation was conducted near Bolton market, in which 250,000 sticks of foreign brands valued at Rs. 10 million were seized. In the second operation in Karachi, 400,000 sticks of high-end brands of cigarettes valued at Rs. 25 million were seized in the Saddar area.

The intelligence-based operations were also carried out at Multan and Dera Ismail Khan where Customs Intelligence seized 1,050,000 sticks of smuggled cigarettes valued at Rs. 40 million and 40,000 sticks of smuggled cigarettes valued at Rs 4 million respectively.

This takes the tally of seizures of smuggled cigarettes by the Customs Intelligence in the current fiscal year to 39,187,000 sticks valued at Rs. 1.093 billion. FBR Chairman and Director General, Customs Intelligence Faiz Ahmad appreciated the efforts of Customs Intelligence Karachi, DI Khan, and Peshawar and encouraged them to make more efforts to check the menace of smuggling.

Source: Pro Pakistani