Sale of smuggled luxury bullet proof vehicles is continuing online with impunity, causing huge financial losses to the national exchequer.
The car smugglers have developed online portals or use some of the top auto websites to place advertisements and contact info to sell bullet proof vehicles to their customers. The smugglers even assure their customs that clearance chits from customs collectorate Karachi can be purchased at fees ranging from Rs 400,000 to Rs 1,000,000.
The advertisements even mention that a vehicle someone is trying to purchase has come from Kabul via the chamman border.
Prices of some of the top-notch bullet proof vehicles for sale on these websites are as follows: land cruiser bullet proof model-2010 is available for Rs 7 million; BMW 32i 2006 for Rs 750,000; BMW-116i-2009 for Rs 19,750,000; BMW 630 i-2004 for Rs 640,000; Range Rover, 2006 for Rs 3,200,000; Toyota prius hybrid 2006 for Rs 450,000; Honda Civic-2006 for Rs 560,000 and Toyota Rover model 2015 for Rs 4,200,000.
When the sellers are contacted using the contact info on the websites, they say up front that the car is not customs cleared and the purchaser would have to pay additional amount if they want customs clearance chit.
The FBR chairman, when contacted about the illegal activities said that he had no knowledge of the sale of smuggled vehicles on the Internet. He said that he would obtain information in this regard from concerned quarters and take action against the persons found involved in this illegal business.
