The Intelligence Bureau has prepared a comprehensive report on how various mafias are involved in smuggling, tax evasion, drug trade, illegal currency business and misuse of Afghan transit trade, causing huge losses to the country’s economy.
The report, which has been submitted to the government, also explains the steps taken by the IB to counter the economic terrorism that threatens Pakistan.
The report reveals that the illegal import of Iranian POL products alone results in an annual loss of at least Rs225 billion to the national treasury. Smuggled Iranian oil is not only sold at illegal roadside petrol outlets, but also reaches regular petrol pumps across the country.
The IB has made extensive efforts to curb smuggling and identified 76 transporters and 29 smugglers and facilitators who were involved in bringing Iranian oil into the country. The report also mentions that 995 illegal and unlicensed petrol pumps across the country were identified for selling and buying smuggled Iranian oil.
The report also sheds light on the factors behind the massive devaluation of the Pak rupee. It says that the instability in the stock market and the imposition of capital gain taxes in real estate and capital markets led to investors with black money shifting their capital to foreign currencies to take advantage of the exchange rate devaluation caused by weak economic fundamentals.
Moreover, Afghanistan’s annual trade volume gap of $4 billion is filled through drug trade, currency smuggling from Pakistan to Afghanistan, and receipts from hawala/hundi. The IB has identified 122 currency smugglers and 40 exchange companies involved in manipulating the currency markets in order to stop them.