LAHORE: Customs and PIA rift ends as both the parties amicably sorted out matter of smuggling items through dialogues.
Sources said that Customs authorities had cleared PIA pilot and officials after a seven-hour long inquiry. They said that reconciliatory dialogues were held between Customs Additional Collector Mubashar Baig and PIA Station Manager. The PIA staff had also cancelled strike call after the successful dialogues between the two sides, sources added.
Customs Deputy Collector Usman Bajwa, on the other hand, told Customs Today that the matter was still being investigated.
The rift was created between Customs and PIA, when Collectorate of Customs Preventive Sunday allegedly seized 40 Apple i-6 mobile and 5,000 UK Ponds at the Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore from PIA plane’s captain Amir Hashmi. The plane was flying from London to Lahore.
PIA spokesman Mashood Tajwar refused the allegation saying that PIA staff was not involved in the smuggling but the passengers.