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The surge in excise obligation in February 2023 has led to an exponential improve in smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes. photograph: reuTERS
ISLAMABAD:
A sub-committee of the Senate Standing Committee on Inside on Thursday mentioned the theft of two,828 cartons of cigarettes from a warehouse of the FBR.
The assembly, chaired by Senator Saifullah Abro, acquired a briefing from officers of the FIA and the FBR concerning the incident.
FIA officers knowledgeable the committee that drivers getting into and leaving the warehouse are usually issued passes. They stated statements of officers whose names surfaced in the course of the investigation had been recorded.
Officers additional stated that on the day the cigarettes have been moved, no move had been issued to the motive force. They added that the shift in-charge was additionally absent in the course of the switch of the products and no file was registered.
FIA officers advised the committee that no CCTV footage of the incident was accessible.
FBR officers said that the division had rented the warehouse and there have been no surveillance cameras put in on the facility.
“We had verbally knowledgeable all officers concerning the SOPs,” the FBR officers stated.
