The Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) has ordered a nationwide investigation into an alleged courier and Customs fraud network after a Pakistani man claimed his duty-paid iPhone 16 Plus was released to another person using forged documents.
The case came to light after Muhammad Nausherwan Khan filed a complaint, stating that his sister sent him an iPhone 16 Plus from Canada through FedEx in December 2024. The smartphone arrived in Karachi, where Khan paid Rs128,000 in PTA taxes to complete the legal import process.
Despite paying all required taxes and completing the necessary formalities, Khan said he never received the device. He later discovered that the smartphone had allegedly been released to another individual after a forged authority letter was reportedly used to obtain Customs clearance.
Federal Tax Ombudsman Zafar Hijazi said the available evidence pointed to what appeared to be an organised scam involving courier operations, Customs procedures, and private individuals. He noted that the complainant had been deprived of his duty-paid smartphone for more than one and a half years despite fulfilling all legal requirements.
During the proceedings, Customs officials defended the clearance process, stating that the shipment had been released after a licensed clearing agent submitted the original detention receipt, invoice, and other required documents. However, the Ombudsman questioned how the parcel could be handed over to another person when the complainant remained the officially declared consignee on all import documents.
The inquiry also uncovered alleged discrepancies in the shipment records. While the consignee’s name reportedly remained unchanged, investigators found that the delivery address and contact details had allegedly been replaced with those of another individual on the airway bill and invoice.
Although Khan later informed the Ombudsman that his personal grievance had been resolved, the FTO decided to continue pursuing the matter in the public interest. Officials said the alleged irregularities suggested the possibility of a wider fraud network affecting other courier imports.
The FTO has directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to instruct the Chief Collector of Customs (Airports) to conduct a targeted investigation into FedEx’s courier clearance operations. The inquiry will examine courier import records from January 2025 to June 2026, identify other potentially affected consignments, investigate the alleged use of forged authority letters, review the conduct of Customs officials, and recommend legal or disciplinary action where wrongdoing is established.
The Ombudsman has also recommended introducing a uniform Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for courier import clearances at all international airports to strengthen verification processes and prevent similar incidents in the future.
Also read: Observations of Stolen Goods from Customs Warehouses by FTO
