Traders and industrialists on Wednesday expressed concern over the rising incidents of theft at the country’s seaports.
According to Muffasar Atta Malik, acting president of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), the imported goods were being stolen during examination and clearance from all ports of the city. This was causing huge losses to the importers, he added.
In a statement, the acting president urged the Ports and Shipping Ministry and chairmen of all ports to take notice of the peculiar rise in theft of imported goods and order Port Security Force (PSF) to take stringent steps to secure imported consignments in order to save the business community from suffering severe losses.
Malik pointed out that KCCI had received numerous complaints from importers who, while seeking chamber’s assistance in bringing this pressing issue to the notice of concerned authorities, pointed out that although this problem persisted from quite some time now as small quantities of imported goods were constantly being stolen but nowadays, the situation had worsened as around 10 to 12 cartons were being stolen from each of thousands of imported containers.
“Representatives of various trade associations including Karachi Electronic Dealers Association (KEDA) and Pakistan Spare Parts Importers & Dealers Association (PASPIDA) have forwarded similar complaints and sought KCCI’s help in dealing with this issue,” he said.
To resolve the issue, Malik suggested that besides intensifying security arrangements of imported consignments, the concerned authority must also allow a representative of business community into the port premises during clearance and examination of imported goods to ensure that no theft occurs which would substantially bring down the current volume of stolen goods during clearance and examination.
