Customs Anti-Smuggling conducted a ten-hour long operation to seize a non-duty paid Lexus vehicle from the parking lot of Amna Mall on Model Town Link Road here on Friday.
Customs staffers claimed that they had to face resistance put by the vehicle owner for at least ten hours when they parked Land Cruisers and other vehicles to the right and left of the smuggled Lexus. Then customs team called for a crane, loaded the Lexus vehicle into recovery ten hours later and moved it to their warehouse.
The Customs team led by Additional Collector Matin Alam and Assistant Collector Ali Tauqeer conducted the operation on the instructions of Collector Customs Basit Maqsood Abbasi. According to customs sources, the Lexus was owned by Chaudhry Yousuf, owner of Amna Mall. Customs has confiscated a vehicle in the name of Haider Ali Sultan, Chief Security Officer of Amna Mall. According to customs officials, the Lexus was worth Rs 4.5 crore while Rs 1.5 Crore was due in customs duties.
On the other hand, Chaudhry Yousuf was of the view that he has nothing to do with the car, the Lexus car was owned by his guest friends who work at the embassy. Customs has seized the vehicle and expanded the scope of the investigation.
