ISLAMABAD: A sub-committee of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Control on Friday sought accountability in alleged theft of 2,828 cigarette cartons from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) warehouses.
It asked the director general (DG) Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to seriously take up the matter of the theft from the FBR godowns in Swabi and Mardan and ensure an expeditious investigation and disposal of the matter.
The sub-committee emphasised that the matter involved government property and national revenue, therefore, all departments concerned must make every possible effort to recover the stolen goods and coordinate effectively to identify those responsible.
The sub-committee meeting, presided by Senator Saifullah Abro at the Parliament House, discussed the matter in detail and sought explanations from the departments concerned in order to fix responsibility and ensure recovery of the stolen cigarettes.
At the outset, Senator Abro expressed serious concern over the absence of DG FIA and emphasised the importance of the presence of senior officials during committee proceedings.
Member FBR told the committee that the matter had initially been reported as a case of theft and an FIR had been lodged with the concerned police authorities, adding the police later treated the matter as a case of misappropriation and referred it to the FIA for further investigation.
The FBR representative clarified it was generally perceived that such incidents must first be reported to the police station concerned before further legal proceedings were initiated.
He also shared a notification outlining the mechanism for referring such cases to FIA and assured the committee that FBR would fully cooperate with FIA officials during the investigation. It was also informed that formal approval of the board of members was required before initiating proceedings with FIA.
During the discussion, Senator Talha Mahmood suggested that the scope of the committee’s inquiry should be expanded and highlighted another incident of theft happened in April 2024, wherein 908 cigarette cartons out of 1,262 cartons were stolen from a godown yet no FIR had been lodged in that case.
He further noted that such incidents had repeatedly occurred in areas falling under the jurisdiction of the Regional Tax Office (RTO), Peshawar, and questioned why cigarette consignments appeared to be specifically targeted.
The FBR official informed the committee that an immediate FIR had been lodged in the present case and that the stolen cartons were reportedly recovered in May near Jahangira at Flow Petroleum.
The committee was further informed that CCTV cameras had been installed in all FBR godowns since January 14 this year, and a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) had been introduced to improve monitoring and security arrangements.
It was told that as part of disciplinary action, 10 officers of BS-16 and BS-17 had been suspended, while several officers suspected of having links with the business community had been transferred to other stations to dismantle any potential nexus.
