Joint teams of the AJK Excise and Taxation Department and the police have intensified their crackdown on tax evasion in the AJK cigarette industry.
According to details, on the instructions of the AJK Prime Minister, crackdown operations against tax evading cigarette factories in AJK areas have been curtailed in full swing.
In this regard, raids were conducted on warehouses and various offices of National Tobacco Company, Walton Tobacco Company and Chinar Tobacco Company at Mirpur, Bhimber and Barnala.
The Walton Tobacco Company warehouse was raided late on Wednesday evening under the supervision of DSP Naseer Ahmed Command along with IRO Inland Muhammad Shakeel. Authorities raided warehouses at Barnala Road, Bhimber and seized cigarette raw materials including 3,230 tobacco bags, 45 cartons of filter paper, 504 cartons of filter rod, 90 cartons of Express cigarettes, 31 cartons of Hero cigarettes and 33 cartons of of the Grace cigarette brand. Authorities later sealed the warehouse and initiated legal proceedings against the warehouse owner and manager.
In another operation, government authorities raided the warehouse of National Tobacco Company, Bhimber and seized 3,811 cartons of illegal cigarettes and over 384,000 kg of raw tobacco.
Similarly, during a raid on the Walton Tobacco Company, government authorities seized 10 cartons of illegal cigarettes, 10 pouches of tobacco to make 100 million cigarettes, and 19 rolls of cigarette paper and other related material.
In another operation, authorities raided a house rented by the National Tobacco Company. During the raid, the authorities confiscated 85 cartons of filter sticks, 67 cartons of cigarette paper, 17 cartons of illegal cigarettes, 16 cartons of cigarette tape, 10,000 kg of raw tobacco and other raw materials.
In a separate raid at Chanar Tobacco Company, Barnala, authorities seized 731 bags of tobacco.
Currently, the AJK revenue authorities are losing billions of rupees annually due to tax evasion in the AJK cigarette sector alone. These illegal cigarettes which are manufactured in AJK are smuggled to different areas of Punjab.
It is interesting to mention that despite the passing of the last cut-off date, the tracking and tracing system has not been implemented in cigarette factories in AJK areas. It is also worth noting that the illegal tobacco trade causes a loss of revenue of 300 billion rupees per year to the state of Pakistan.
