KARACHI: Pakistan Coast Guards, country’s coastal security force, has seized 7,000 liters of smuggled Iranian diesel in the Arabian Sea near Manora coast of Karachi, an official said on Monday.
“The marine wing of the Pakistan Coast Guards (PCG) has recovered 7,000 liters of Iranian diesel from secret cavities of a fishing boat near Manora. The smugglers want to traffic the diesel to different parts of Pakistan,” Safeer Mehdi, spokesperson of the PCG, told Arab News.
“The value of seized boat and diesel is estimated Rs20.49 million,” Mehdi said, adding that a Pakistani national, Jamshed Qadir, has been arrested who is now being questioned for his involvement with the smuggling network.
This is not the first recovery of Iranian smuggled diesel which is easily available in different parts of the country.
In May this year, the standing committee of Pakistan’s Senate was briefed that illegal smuggling of oil from Iran is causing the country’s national exchequer a loss of Rs60 billion annually.
Officials informed the Senate that the sale of diesel has been declined by 1.4 million tons in the last 10 months due to increased smuggling from Iran through the Pak-Iran border and Sea.
In January this year, police in Karachi thwarted a bid to transport 30,000 liters of smuggled Iranian diesel and arrested two accused. In March last year, the Coast Guards had recovered a huge cache of 100,000 liters of Iranian Diesel in Uthal area of Balochistan. Karachi police had seized 40,000 liters of smuggled Iranian diesel in the Mochko area in the city in October 2017.
In May 2015, the country’s coast guards had foiled a bid to smuggle 65,000 liters of Iranian diesel from Balochistan to Karachi.
Pakistan seizes 7,000 liters of smuggled Iranian diesel
Pakistan seizes 7,000 liters of smuggled Iranian diesel
- Smuggling of oil from Iran is causing Pakistan’s national exchequer a loss of Rs60 billion annually
- Authorities are investigating a Pakistan national for involvement with the smuggling network
Pakistan offers Turkmenistan its Arabian Sea ports for wider access to ‘South Asia and beyond’
- PM Sharif meets Turkmen president in Ashgabat, calls for deeper trade and energy cooperation
- Islamabad cites Karachi and Gwadar as key to boosting regional connectivity, including TAPI links
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday urged Turkmenistan to expand trade and connectivity through Karachi and Gwadar, saying its Arabian Sea ports offer Turkmen businesses and exporters a direct route to South Asian and global markets, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said after high-level talks in Ashgabat.
Pakistan and Turkmenistan have long discussed regional transport corridors and energy cooperation, including the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India (TAPI) gas pipeline, a proposed multibillion-dollar project that would carry Turkmen natural gas south through Afghanistan into Pakistan and India. Islamabad has also pushed to link the landlocked Central Asian states to the sea by offering transit access through its deep-water ports, which sit at the crossroads of the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia.
On Thursday, Pakistan's Sharif met Serdar Berdimuhamedov, the president of Turkmenistan, in Ashgabat as both countries look to revive momentum in bilateral engagement after years of regional instability. Pakistan has supported Turkmen neutrality policies at the United Nations, while Ashgabat has backed Pakistan during crises, including helping evacuate Pakistani nationals caught in Iran during the Iran–Israel conflict earlier this year.
“The Prime Minister reaffirmed Pakistan’s desire to enhance connectivity with Turkmenistan through land and sea routes and said that Karachi and Gwadar ports were ideally located to be utilized by the Turkmen side to enhance their outreach to South Asia and beyond,” Sharif’s office said in a statement.
Sharif reiterated his intention to deepen trade and economic ties with Turkmenistan, saying enhanced transport links and energy cooperation could anchor long-term regional integration. He invited President Berdimuhamedow and Turkmenistan’s national leader, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, on official visits to Pakistan next year.
Sharif is on a two-day visit to Turkmenistan for the International Forum on Peace and Trust, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Energy Minister Awais Leghari, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and senior officials.
Turkmenistan’s president thanked Sharif for attending the UN-backed peace forum and said Ashgabat was keen to expand cooperation across multiple sectors, according to the statement.
