The truckers, who take transit goods of Afghanistan to Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi via Multan ,Muzaffargarh, alleged that they had to pay thousands of rupees as ‘extortion’ at various checkpoints of Customs and police particularly in the jurisdiction of Multan directorate of customs Intelligence & Investigation.They said that after entering Punjab province, each of them was fleeced of about Rs 18,000 to 25,000 by customs and Police in Dera Ghazi Khan, Karam-dad Qureshi(Muzaffargarh) Taunsa Sharif before reaching destination . “The main points of extortion are in Muzaffargarh and Dera Ghazi Khan districts, ,” they alleged.They complained that sometime demand for money was so high that they had to talk out the issue for hours as they no longer carried huge amount with them owing to increase in highway robberies. They said that they had to borrow money on the way as they had to refuel their vehicles several times on long routes.Police authorities added that Customs staff at some self-styled checkpoint near D.G.Khan allegedly extracted huge amount under duress from the transporters and smugglers by allowing them free passage. The drivers alleged that police on Peshawar Road also took what they called ‘sweet money’ from the truckers in two districts of Punjab .Many truckers complained that they were forced to stop at the checkpoint at Karam-dad Qureshi (16 miles from Muzaffargarh) where there was no checkpost but a Customs vehicle remained parked along the Highway all the time.They said that an official of the Customs demanded Rs5000 to Rs1,5000 from them, depending on the load and size of their vehicle. Upon refusal or argument, they said, the official threatened them to unload the truck for checking.The Customs staff also allegedly earns millions of rupees from non-custom paid vehicles brought from South Waziristan tribal region after free passage through Dera Ismail Khan district. They charged smugglers Rs One lac to 150,000 per vehicle, sources alleged. A spokesman of Customs House, however, denied that Customs staff was involved in taking bribe.He said that uniforms of some other department were identical to that of Customs and it could be a case of mistaken identity. He, however, promised to bring the matter into the notice of his superiors to take action. He admitted that at least 4,000 vehicles passed through South Punjab daily and checking of each and every one was not possible humanly. He said that the department was installing heavy scanner at Checkposts to remove human error and complaints.
However, DIG Dera Ghazi Khan claimed that corruption was curtailed to a greater extent. “Corruption has been curtailed enormously. The extortion checkposts has been completely eliminated. I can’t tolerate black sheep in the department,” he insisted.
But he acknowledged that Dera Ghazi Khan was a big region and it was physically and humanly impossible to keep a tab on every policeman. “Constables do take meagre amount of money from transporters and for that police department with limited resources cannot keep an intelligence officer at every important checkpost or police station,” the DIG said.
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Corruption