LANDIKOTAL
Sale of edibles dropped around 60 percent in the past few months as foods prices especially of sugar,flour and pulses in local markets sky rocking because police and food department personnel deployed at Michni checkpost in Landikotal and Torkham failed to discourage smuggling to Afghanistan,residents and traders complained on Sunday.
This correspondent talked to various people in Landikotal bazaar said that the government had imposed a strict ban on suger and flour smuggling due to price hike in the local market. They said sugar maifa who call themselves traders with the back support of police and Deputy Commissioner(DC) Khyber staff deployed at Michni check post near the Torkham border were involve in facilitating smugglers.They said smugglers pay police and food department staff their shares and allow smugglers to smuggle edibles to Afghanistan.
A local shopkeeper, Ahamd Gul Miankhel said that smuggling of ban items severely suffered the local markets. He said due sky rocketing prices of edibles especially sugar,flour and other edibles were not affordable. He said residents’ buying power decreased to zero level.
Ahmad Gul Miankhel said a year before he was selling approximately 500 kilograms of sugar each month in retail in local market,adding that now due to high sugar price in Afghanistan sugar consumers in Landikotal reduced to 80 percent.
He said other food items and currency are being also smuggled from Pakistan to Afghanistan while foreign made products including medicines,Paan and cosmetics products were being smuggled via Torkham to Pakistan.He said smuggling not only suffer a lay man’s life but revenue also been shrinked down due to unfolded smuggling to Afghanistan.
Jan Muhammad,a shopkeeper in Torkham town said non-custom paid items including cigarettes, cloth, separi, medicine and snuff were being smuggled in different ways and means from Afghanistsn. He said the smuggled items later transported to several parts of the Pakistan.He said these ban items loaded in small and heavy vehicles first cross Torkham border and then pass through heavily manned Michni checkpost where police and food department contingents are deployed.He said price of suger jumped to Rs155 per kilogram while flour of 20 kilograms reached to Rs3000 in Landikotal bazaar.
Jan Muhammad said due to unfolded smuggling of foreign goods hit a blow of million of dollars every month to national exchequre. He said not only national economy suffered of smuggling from and to Afghanistan but local traders and shopkeers also received unaffordable ecnomical losses.
A resident, Ali Khan,who run a wheel cart in Landikotal bazaar said that he load suger bags on his wheelbarrow from various shops in Landikotal bazaar. He said the suger bags were being concealed in different taxi cars and passengers vans to transport it to Torkham. He said in a day he loaded hundred to five hundreds of 50 kilograms of each suger bag in different cars and mini-coaches.He said those smuggle the suger to Torkham pay money to police and food department employees posted at Michni check post.
A senior custom official said they foiled a number of smuggling bids by seizing currency,weapons and other contrabands at Torkham border crossing in the past months. He said due to poor coordination between the sister departments and lack of discipline and corruption in police ranks smuggling via Torkham border and Michni checkpost flourished as compare to the past year.
To find about the situation this scribe made phone called and text messages to deputy commissioner Khyber and district police officer Khyber but they did not responded.
