To continue its enforcement drive against illicit cigarette trade, Federal Board of Revenue has served warning notices to more than 70 high-selling cigarette retailers across the country for selling smuggled cigarettes.
An FBR official, on the condition of anonymity, said that the Board has been collecting evidence against these outlets for some time now and will continue to do so in major metro cities across the country. The notices were served to retailers located in Faisalabad, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Sargodha; and similar drives have been launched in Lahore and Karachi as well, with plans to extend the initiative to other cities already underway. “FBR wants to send a clear message that it will not tolerate evasion and that smuggled cigarette retailers should beware in the future,” he added.
Reportedly, these cigarettes are being smuggled from Afghanistan through porous western borders of Pakistan and come, not only, evading duties and taxes but also mostly without any kind of health warning, making them conspicuously visible in retail outlets for law enforcement officials to take notice of. In the absence of paying the requisite taxes, these smuggled cigarettes offer huge profit margins to retailers and wholesalers, providing them a lucrative incentive to get involved in the heinous crime of smuggling and sale of smuggled goods.