FIA moves against five FBR officers over Rs 250m cigarette theft case

The Federal Investigation Agency has registered a case against five Federal Board of Revenue officials and three officials of a private company over the alleged disappearance of cigarette cartons.

The case concerns cigarettes that had been seized by FBR officials and stored at government warehouses in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

According to the FIR, the missing stock is estimated to have caused a loss of around Rs250 million to the national exchequer.

The FIA Anti-Corruption Circle registered the case on the complaint of FIA Assistant Director Muhammad Safir Ahmed.

The nominated FBR officials include Inspectors Kamran and Naveed, along with a driver, security guard and naib qasid. Three officials from the private company, including two directors and a manager, have also been named.

The FIA has reportedly started raids to locate the nominated suspects as the investigation moves forward.

How the cigarette cartons went missing

According to the FIR, 1,262 cartons of cigarettes were seized in Swabi in February 2024.

The seized cigarettes were later moved to an FBR warehouse in Mardan for storage.

The FIR says FBR Inspectors Kamran and Naveed later transferred 1,202 cartons from Mardan back to Swabi.

The cartons were transported in trucks, but when the vehicles reached the Swabi warehouse, officials found that 908 cartons were missing.

The case record states that officials later claimed to have recovered 907 cartons from the missing stock.

However, a later inspection reportedly found that the problem was much larger than initially believed.

An inspection carried out about a year later found 2,828 cartons missing, including the 907 cartons that had previously been reported as recovered.

The FIA is now investigating how the stock disappeared and whether government officials or private individuals were involved in the alleged loss.

Warehouse records and CCTV under scrutiny

The FIR also points to serious weaknesses in the management and security of the warehouses.

Investigators alleged that proper logbooks were not maintained at the storage facilities.

The case also states that CCTV cameras had not been installed at the warehouses, making it difficult to establish a complete record of movements and access.

The absence of proper documentation has become an important part of the investigation because seized goods are required to remain under government control.

The FIA is examining the movement of the cigarette cartons between warehouses and the records connected with their storage.

The investigation will also determine whether other officials or private individuals were involved in the alleged disappearance.

The Senate had earlier been informed about several similar administrative shortcomings, including the absence of official stock registers, CCTV cameras, warehouse duty rosters and proper records for moving seized goods.

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Senate had already raised questions

The missing cigarette cartons were already under scrutiny before the latest FIA case was registered.

A Senate sub-committee had been investigating the disappearance of 2,828 cartons from FBR warehouses in Swabi and Mardan.

The committee sought explanations from the relevant departments and directed authorities to establish responsibility for the missing stock.

In March, FIA officials told the committee that the incident involved an estimated loss of about Rs250 million.

They also highlighted several weaknesses in warehouse management, including the lack of a designated officer, stock registers, CCTV cameras and standard procedures for shifting seized goods.

The committee subsequently directed the FIA to expand its investigation and examine the roles of relevant FBR officials.

It also called for statements from senior officials who were serving in relevant positions when the incident occurred.

Investigation expands beyond missing cartons

The FIA’s latest case gives investigators a formal legal framework to examine the disappearance.

The investigation is expected to establish how the cartons were moved, who had access to them and whether the warehouse records were deliberately or negligently left incomplete.

The role of the private company officials named in the FIR will also be examined.

Importantly, being nominated in an FIR does not by itself establish guilt. The allegations will have to be investigated and established through the legal process.

The FIA can also determine whether additional people were involved as more evidence and statements are collected.

The agency’s investigation comes after months of scrutiny by the Senate committee over the handling of seized cigarette stock.