It’s raining liquor scams in Pak!

ISLAMABAD - Another case of liquor pilfering has come to light in Pakistan, as thousands of liquor bottles were smuggled into the country in collaboration with various government departments.

According to the Daily Times, Shalimar Police Station in Islamabad has seized a truck containing 2,190 bottles of foreign liquor.

The consignment was being offloaded at the residence of Ambassador of Yangon (Burma).

The truck driver did show a permit to police, but it claimed that 900 bottles were being shifted to Dr Ali Mora, Ambassador of Syria.

According to rules, imported liquor should be shifted to Islamabad after paying custom charges.

However, the current incident shows that liquor containers are continuously being sent from Karachi to Islamabad without paying custom charges.

The incident suggests that some government departments are also involved in the smuggling.

The biggest-ever ‘liquor scam’ in Pakistan’s history was reported when over 42,000 bottles of foreign branded liquor, including Blue Label and Black Label, seized by police in Islamabad were replaced with bottles of local liquor.

The market price of Blue Label and Royal Salute in Islamabad is Rs15,000 per bottle, and the seized liquor is reportedly valued at Rs.200 million.

The source said that the services of a notorious bootlegger were ‘acquired’ for the whole operation.

The man also has a police record with at least five cases.

In return for the ’services’, all cases registered against him were closed on the basis of lack of evidence.

In the past, police have conducted several raids and recovered such fake re-bottled liquor from different ‘dens’ in and around Islamabad, but this case is unique in the sense that the police officials are themselves involved in the crime. (ANI)