FIA books five FBR officers over Rs250m missing cigarette cartons

The Federal Investigation Agency on Tuesday registered an FIR against five Federal Board of Revenue officers and three officials of a private company over the alleged theft of 2,828 cartons of cigarettes from FBR custody in Swabi and Mardan, estimating the loss to the national exchequer at Rs250 million.

The case was registered by the FIA Anti-Corruption Circle on a complaint from FIA Assistant Director Muhammad Safir Ahmed, ARY News reported. According to the FIR, five FBR officials and three owners or office-bearers of a private company have been nominated. ARY identified the FBR accused as Inspectors Kamran and Naveed, a driver, a security guard and a naib qasid, along with two directors and a manager of the private firm. ProPakistani named the five FBR officials as Kamran, Naveed, Intasab Hussain, Qazi Amjad and Sajjad Ali, and the three private company representatives as Saqib Ali Khan, Fida and Awais Qureshi.

The FIR states that 1,262 cartons of Kissan brand cigarettes were seized in Swabi in February 2024 and stored at an FBR warehouse in Mardan. FBR Inspectors Kamran and Naveed later moved 1,202 cartons from Mardan to Swabi in four trucks, according to ProPakistani, and when the trucks reached the Swabi warehouse, 908 cartons were found missing. Around three months later, officials claimed to have recovered 907 cartons, ARY reported, but the FIR says no corresponding entries were made in the stock register.

An inspection of the Qasim Pulla warehouse in Swabi on 7 May 2025 found that 2,828 cartons, including the 907 recovered cartons, were missing. The FIR alleges that FBR inspectors and other staff were directly involved in the theft and, with private company officials, caused the loss. It also says logbooks and stock registers were not maintained at the warehouses and CCTV cameras were not installed.

FIA has launched raids to arrest the nominated suspects. ProPakistani reported the case has been registered under sections 409 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947. It said the role of other FBR officials, including deputy commissioners, will be determined during the investigation.

Earlier in April, a sub-committee of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Control met in Islamabad under Senator Saifullah Abro to investigate the disappearance. ARY News reported the FIA had told that committee 1,262 of the missing cartons belonged to the Kissan Tobacco brand of Paramount Tobacco Company, and that the sub-committee had urged the FIA to include all relevant FBR officers and scrutinise their assets.