Afghan Transit Trade affects on our industrial sector

Afghan transit trade

THIS is with reference to the letter ‘Transit trade scam’ (Jan 24). Although the writer himself admits that “the problem with the existing system is that everyone seems to be involved,” yet he suggests that containers being returned from Afghanistan should be checked whether they are empty.
The same corrupt staff will certify that they have checked the containers and found them to be empty, so we’ll be back to square one.
It is heartening to see, however, that with so much attention being given to misuse of transit trade, smuggling of goods from this source has reduced considerably.
But at the same time under – invoiced and misdeclared goods being cleared at dry ports have increased significantly, which will again result in massive loss of revenue to the nation.
To curb this menace of under – invoicing and misdeclaration, every container with a declared value of $20,000 and less be subjected to detailed check by Customs and Sales Tax intelligence. This should help stop this illegal activity.

SHAKIR LAKHANI
Karachi
Published in DAWN, 26th January 2011