The Federal Revenue Board (FBR) here issued strict instructions to its field offices on Friday to implement the Prime Minister's instructions to prevent food smuggling out of the country.
The instructions were given to the Directorate General for Intelligence and Investigation Tasks in Islamabad and the Chief Customs Collector in Balochistan, Quetta and the Chief Customs Collector in northern Islamabad, according to a FBR press release published here.
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The Prime Minister has paid serious attention to the lack of food such as wheat, wheat flour, sugar, corn, maida, poultry, fresh fruits, vegetables and livestock, etc. in the country.
The statement added that the prime minister had made every effort to keep the smuggling of this food out of the country.
The federal government introduced the Covid-19 (Prevention of Smuggling) Regulation in 2020 to enable law enforcement agencies to stop food smuggling.
The administration has instructed Pakistani customs to devote all possible resources to this task and to do everything in its power to combat smuggling, especially food.
Customs were also asked to keep in close contact with law enforcement, while the Authority advised to keep strict vigilance in the release of export shipments to avoid misrepresentation / smuggling of these goods in the form of normal items.
The Board instructed the Directorate-General I&I Customs and Chief Collectors to report detailed information on the steps taken and results achieved to the Board, and requested that they submit a report every two weeks on the 1st and 16th of each month at Achievements in the fight against smuggling emphasize their areas.