Joint teams of Azad Jammu & Kashmir’s excise and taxation department and police have conducted large-scale enforcement actions and operations against tax evasion in the cigarette industry.
According to details, following the instructions of the Prime Minister of AJK, the operation is underway at full pace against the tax-evading cigarette manufacturing factories in the areas of AJK.
A joint investigation team has also been constituted by the Interior Ministry of the AJK to recommend further course of action against tax evasion in the tobacco sector.
In this regard, raids were conducted on warehouses and different offices of National Tobacco Company, Walton Tobacco Company, Chinar Tobacco Company, and Warna Tobacco Company in Mirpur, Bhimber, and Barnala.
In the raid at a warehouse of Watan Tobacco Company, authorities confiscated raw materials of cigarettes including 3,230 bags of raw tobacco, 45 cartons of filter paper, 504 cartons of filter rod, 90 cartons of cigarette brand Express, 31 cartons of cigarette brand Hero and 33 cartons of cigarette brand Grace. The authorities later sealed the godown and initiated legal proceedings against the owner and the warehouse manager.
In another operation, authorities raided the warehouse of National Tobacco Company, Bhimber, and seized 3,811 cartons of illegal cigarettes and more than 384,000 kgs of raw tobacco.
Similarly during a raid on the Walton Tobacco Company, Barnala, government authorities seized 10 cartons of illegal cigarettes, 10 bags of tobacco to prepare 100 million cigarette sticks, and 19 cigarette paper rolls and other related material.
In another operation, authorities raided a house that was taken on rent by the National Tobacco Company. During the raid, the authorities seized 85 cartons of filter rods, 67 cartons of cigarette paper, 17 cartons of illegal cigarettes, 16 cartons of cigarette tape, 10,000 kgs of raw tobacco, and other raw material.
In a separate raid at Chanar Tobacco Company, Barnala, the authorities confiscated 731 bags of tobacco.
At the moment, AJK tax authorities are losing billions of rupees annually due to tax evasion in the cigarette sector. These illegal cigarettes which are manufactured in AJK are smuggled to the various areas of Punjab.
It is pertinent to mention that despite the passing of the last date, the Track and Trace System had not been implemented in the cigarette factories located in the areas of AJK.
