Customs to train officials, raise new combat force

PESHAWAR: Days after Pakistan Customs officers came under attack twice within a week in April, the department has decided to train and equip the existing force, besides raising a combat force, to fight back against militants in the future.

The decision, according to senior Customs officials, was taken after five officials lost their lives in two attacks on April 18 and April 21 in Dera Ismail Khan.

They said that besides providing bulletproof jackets and armoured vehicles to Customs officials for carrying out operations, the department planned a long-term strategy to raise a force.

However, they said that raising a new force would take at least two or three years as it would require specialised agencies like the army and police to train the personnel.

While talking about the recent attacks on Customs officers in D.I. Khan, the officials said the department believed the victims had breached SOPs, which led to their martyrdom. At the same time, they denied that smugglers, rather militants, were involved in the attacks on Customs officials.

Department fears possible collusion between militants and smugglers in KP

They informed that smuggling generates illegal money, and there was a possibility of a nexus between smugglers and militants, adding that the department believed militants protected smugglers, and in return, smugglers paid the militants “protection money.”

When asked, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Collector (Customs) Saeed Akram confirmed the developments, saying that some decisions, including taking law enforcement agencies in the loop while carrying out operations against smugglers and equipping Customs officials, have been taken.

Mr Akram said Customs officials would have to follow the guidelines and wearing bulletproof vests and helmets has been made mandatory during operations against smugglers.

He said that the department also planned to purchase bulletproof vehicles. “Law enforcement agencies will be taken in the loop while carrying out operations against smugglers.”

Customs officials have been told to remain in touch with Frontier Constabulary’s Quick Response Force and the police’s Elite Force for effective operations, he told Dawn.

Other senior Customs officials said wars in the region were mostly financed through revenue generated by smuggling.

They claimed that smuggling goods into Pakistan was a business and wondered why “ordinary” smugglers would destroy their business, pointing fingers towards militants involvement in attacks on Customs officials in Dera Ismail Khan.

The official said over 90 per cent of the border in KP was fenced and hinted at smugglers transporting goods from Iran and Afghanistan into Balochistan and from sea routes into Sindh.

“Yes, there is this new route — the sea route, which we call marine smuggling. They [smugglers] enter Sindh and later transport the goods to other parts of the country. It is possible, and it is happening since we don’t have Marine Customs,” the official claimed.

He said that in KP, the department had blocked main arteries used by smugglers, including those used by “good and bad Taliban,” but wondered why the Baluchistan-Afghanistan and Baluchistan-Iran borders could not be fenced.

He said that why the smugglers, whose goods were seized in the recent operation in D.I. Khan, did not use the Pak-Afghan border crossing at Torkham, adding that it certainly meant other border crossings were used for smuggling goods into Pakistan.

“There are several areas, including Chaudwan, Kulachi, and Shaikh Maila, under the total control of militants,” the Customs official said.

Asked why these areas could not be cleared, the official said, “We have certain limits which we cannot cross.”