KARACHI — A UAE-based cargo handling company operating at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport has come under fire after investigators accused its staff of masterminding a large-scale theft of imported goods worth more than one billion rupees over the past 18 months. The revelations have raised suspicions of deep-rooted collusion with customs officials posted at the facility.
According to the Customs Collectorate at the airport, two FIRs have been lodged against company employees. One female staff member has been taken into custody, while another male employee has been declared an absconder. Officials allege that the operation relied on forged documentation to divert high-value consignments, which were then delivered to “ghost companies” without paying the mandatory duties and taxes.
“We have identified at least six consignments removed illegally from the company’s cargo shed using fabricated documents,” customs investigators said, adding that the goods primarily electronics were worth an estimated one billion rupees. The full scale of the theft, however, is still being assessed.
The scheme reportedly involved generating fake Goods Declaration (GD) numbers copied from legitimate consignments. In one instance, the handlers allegedly used GD number KAPF-HC 61625, originally issued for a pharmaceutical import cleared on April 12, 2025, by another cargo company. A second forged GD (KPAF-HC-62714) was traced back to a different pharmaceutical shipment.
Despite the prolonged operation, officials expressed disbelief that such large-scale theft could continue unnoticed. “It is almost impossible that customs officers deployed at the Air Freight Unit remained unaware for 18 months while billions worth of consignments were being siphoned off,” one source said, suggesting insider cooperation played a decisive role.
The FIRs name the UAE-based cargo firm, the importers, and other unidentified accomplices. This is not the first such scandal at Karachi Airport. In a previous case, expensive mobile phones vanished from the customs warehouse, with no significant action taken against the officials implicated or the stolen goods recovered.
