The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has imposed a Rs2.7 billion penalty on terminal operator Gerry’s Dnata for involvement in the illegal removal of imported high-value electronic goods from customs.
Adjudicating authorities also issued formal orders requiring the company to pay Rs221 million in outstanding customs duties and taxes that were unlawfully avoided through the fraud.
Five separate adjudication orders concluded that the scheme reflected systemic institutional failure and the deliberate absence of internal controls within the terminal’s operational framework.
How the fraud was carried out
Investigators from the Collectorate of Customs at Karachi’s airport uncovered the concealment of airway bills and the deletion of index numbers within Gerry’s Dnata’s own computerised system.
The company’s internal system was used to generate fake gate passes, which rendered consignments effectively invisible inside the established WeBOC customs clearance framework used by authorities.
Consignments were removed without filing Goods Declarations or paying any customs duty, allowing large quantities of undeclared electronics to leave the terminal entirely undetected by officials.
Customs officials first intercepted suspicious consignments at Gerry’s Dnata’s shed, discovering high-value luxury electronics including laptops, iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, PlayStations, tablets, and memory cards.
All intercepted goods were being removed using fraudulent gate passes at the time officials intervened, prompting a broader and coordinated investigation into the terminal operator’s wider activities.
Subsequent investigations confirmed that at least five additional consignments had already been illegally cleared through the same method before authorities became aware of the operation.
All implicated consignments originated from suppliers based in the UAE, and had been deliberately concealed from the WeBOC system to prevent customs scrutiny and official intervention.
Authorities noted that Gerry’s Dnata continued to protect staff members implicated in the fraud, rather than cooperating with investigators or taking internal disciplinary action against them.
The company deliberately withheld CCTV footage and system logs required to be retained and produced under Section 211 of Pakistan’s Customs Act of 1969, investigators said.
Officials stated the company also persistently obstructed the investigation despite receiving repeated formal notices issued to it under Section 26 of the Customs Act by authorities.
Arrests and confessions
Customs authorities arrested eight individuals in connection with the fraud, of whom five were identified as employees of Gerry’s Dnata working within the terminal’s cargo operations.
Confessional statements were formally recorded from the accused, providing investigators with direct testimony about the methods used and the individuals involved in authorising illegal clearances.
A female employee told investigators she had issued fake gate passes on the direct instructions of her supervisors, indicating the scheme had high-level organisational knowledge and approval.
An arrested cargo agent separately confessed to the existence of an organised network that had been operating for several years, engaged in systematic pilferage of imported goods.
Investigators also recovered counterfeit customs gate officer stamps at the scene, which had been used specifically to fabricate the fraudulent passes used to remove undeclared consignments.
