PESHAWAR: The grand operation continued against electricity thieves and defaulters in Qazi village of Yakatoot Peshawar on Sunday.
Actions were taken against electricity thieves and defaulters in different areas along with police and staff, Khalid Khan SDO Sethi Town told media men. He said 32 direct coils were removed in the operation against electricity thieves.
He said three shunts and tempered meters were removed in the operation at Sethi Town and Rs. 700,000 cash was recovered from electricity defaulters by removing 12 meters from defaulters worth lakhs of rupees during the operation.
He disclosed that FIR had been sent against two persons for involvement in stealing electricity and selling electricity to other houses and one alleged accused was arrested on the spot and sent to the Police Station Sethi Town Peshawar.
Letters have been sent to the Police Station for the registration of an FIR against the accused, the SDO informed. On the other hand, The government’s robust measures to combat cross-border smuggling in Balochistan, which siphons off billions from the national exchequer each year, are beginning to show promising outcomes.
The smuggling of goods to and from neighbouring countries such as Afghanistan and Iran have not only adversely affected the economy of Pakistan but have also created a vicious black market in the country. The volume of goods smuggled into Pakistan increased nearly threefold from 2014 to 2018.
In these years, smuggling in Pakistan went up from 3.88% to 11.25%. Major goods that are smuggled included sugar, urea, tea, cellphones, fuel and daily-use items like toiletries.
The size of the informal economy in Pakistan is more than 50% of the GDP. It is no surprise that due to the presence of an informal economy, Pakistan’s tax to GDP ratio is merely 10% which is one of the lowest in the world. Smuggling is resulting in discord among those who are paying taxes.
Another alarming issue is the trafficking of drugs like ice crystals, mainly trafficked from Afghanistan, targeting the youth of Pakistan. This smuggling of ice has made the youth of our country, especially the students of universities and colleges, addicted to drugs.
To address these challenges, a strategy was formulated in October 2022 by Balochistan Corps to tackle the issues of trafficking and drug addiction.
The salient points of this strategy were the establishment of 10 joint check posts in Balochistan in April 2023, regular checking by all stakeholders including Customs, Anti-Narcotics, NLC and FIA. Additionally, border closures and border markets through strict checking and fencing by Customs and Coast Guard have been proactive measures. To curb smuggling, law enforcement agencies have successfully thwarted several smuggling attempts in recent times and seized contraband and handed it over to the concerned authorities.
In addition, on the suggestion of Balochistan Corps, an anti-smuggling control room has been established in Quetta to monitor and coordinate the anti-smuggling operations. –Agencies
