LAHORE: Customs officials avoided appearing before the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) even after issuance of notices in a smuggling case.
According to Customs Today sources in the Federal Investigation Agency, the agency had issued notices to the officials of Pakistan Customs for their alleged support to smugglers, but they (officials) refused to appear before the FIA to face the charges against them.
Earlier, FIA Assistant Director with his team raided a warehouse in Misri Shah area of Lahore and impounded huge quantity of smuggled non-customs paid items. The total value of these recovered items was Rs 50 million.
It was revealed during investigation that customs officials were allegedly involved in helping smugglers, since officials have set up their checkpoints at the entrance of the city.
The FIA had linked three customs personnel in the Misri Shah case and issued notices to them.
The officers – superintendents Chaudhry Saleem, Muhammad Hussain and Ahsan Naveed – refused to appear before the FIA for investigation.