Smuggling activity increasing along Pakistan-Iran border

The Pakistani Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said in April that it has detected massive smuggling of inferior quality petroleum products through the Pakistan-Iran border, causing huge losses to the national exchequer. The FBR, media reports said, has issued instructions to the Chief Collector of Customs (South) in Karachi to check the smuggling of Iranian petroleum products. Iranian petroleum products are being sold to illegal petrol pumping stations which have set themselves up along the Coastal Highway and other adjacent areas. Officials suspect that carriers like container vans and trucks are frequently used for smuggling of petroleum products from various areas, including the coastal areas of Trubat, Makran and Chaman. (April 26, 2009)