Pakistani Customs Caught PIA Passengers Smuggling iPhones and MacBooks For More Than Rs.50 Million

Pakistani Customs again proved their mettle by catching PIA passengers smuggling iPhones and MacBooks arrived at the Islamabad International Airport (IIA) on Thursday.

The electronic gadgets those passengers were trying to smuggle were worth more than Rs. Fifty million are currently in the authorities’ custody.

Three people were flying from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), trying to smuggle iPhones, MacBooks, Laptops, Apple Watches and Airpods. Pakistan International Airline (PIA) airplane flight PK262 carried passengers from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and landed at Islamabad Airport.

Hence, Benish Rasheed, a customs assistant collector, and her team eventually took action soon as they felt suspicious and caught those traffickers trying to smuggle electronic devices nearly Rs. 50 million.

Moreover, customs told the media that they recovered more than 100 iPhone 14 models. MacBooks, and other similar technology devices from the smugglers’ luggage. Therefore, those passengers had 106 iPhones, 12 MacBooks, and 37 different laptops. Additionally, the smugglers were carrying iPads, AirPods and Apple Watches while flying from Abu Dhabi to Islamabad.
As previously mentioned, all the items are in customs possession, and customs officials and their team are investigating the matter.

On the other hand, Pakistani Customs also caught a similar smuggling attempt earlier this week. Which was also at Islamabad International Airport. When the airport staff screened the international travelers, Pakistani customs informed them about a smuggling attempt.

When the Islamabad airport staff started to check the passengers more deeply, they found a smuggler traveling from Qatar trying to smuggle items from Qatar to Pakistan.

A customs official who spoke to the media told them that this traveler was carrying more than 73 devices worth Rs. 10 million. Also, the smuggler refused to provide any valid reason for carrying those items. Moreover, he couldn’t even provide tax details to the customs staff when they requested them.

So an investigation is going on regarding that smuggler from Qatar. Because when you don’t possess a tax certificate while carrying items worth millions. It results in the category of illegal activities.
Besides the smuggler from Qatar case, the investigation regarding the three smugglers traveling from Abu Dhabi to Qatar is also in process.

Beenish Rasheed and her team have only provided the necessary information to the media about the confiscation of the items. Her team has yet to share the investigation verdict. The world has yet to witness what punishment those traffickers will get.

Read more:

• Apple fined $19M for not including charging adapters with iPhones
• India Is Exporting iPhones Worth $2.5 Billion This Year; Pakistan Still Waiting For An Apple Store