ISLAMABAD - A leading Pakistani courier company has 'misplaced' an Afghanistan-bound industrial assignment reportedly belonging to the Nato, which is said to have valued more than 100 million rupees.
The equipment constituting the shipment was to be used in humanitarian projects run by the international community in the war-torn country. Confirming the shipment's loss, a senior official at the courier company said that efforts were underway to recover the consignment comprising of heavy machinery.
The TCS Express and Logistics had transported earlier this week an industrial shipment from Karachi to Islamabad containing three heavy machines that were to be sent to Afghanistan. Brio Gin Corporation, an importer of industrial equipment, had placed the shipment order.
Brio Gin said, it did not receive the shipment despite paying TCS over Rs100,000 as courier charges. The shipment comprised of screening machines for medical tests and respectively weighed 150 kilograms and 100 kg (two each). Requesting anonymity, a senior intelligence official said the Afghanistan-bound medical equipment was usually not transported in Nato containers, since, he said, this could cause damage to these machines, while their transportation through courier companies was a much safer way. He said, the screening machines are used to conduct the medical tests of people in parts of Afghanistan where the allied forces and United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) run humanitarian or health projects.
"These kinds of machines are usually transported from Western countries to Pakistan from where they go to Afghanistan using aerial routes. Apart from safety, this procedure is also followed considering the convenience factor regarding customs duty, security clearance and other charges because the equipment transported through prominent courier companies is easily cleared and shipped to respective destinations," the insider said. "It's very expensive machinery not manufactured in Pakistan and customs charges on its import are extremely high."
On Thursday, the sources said, the TCS informed the Brio Gin that its equipment had been delivered to the company's office located at Airport Villas Rawalpindi. The company denied having received the consignment and sent its senior management to the TCS’s largest logistical warehouse located in Khanna Pul, Rawalpindi, for the shipment's recovery.
The TCS claimed that the said shipment was actually delivered to 'neighbours' at a house located next to Brio Gin's office Wednesday night, citing the closure of the company's office during off hours. The company refused to buy this explanation saying that a heavy equipment weighing over 350 kg could not be offloaded to any neighbouring house and that Brio Gin did not have any 'neighbours' at the particular office. This reportedly prompted the TCS to launch an internal inquiry and till the filing of this report Thursday night, the missing consignment was not recovered. When contacted, Faheemullah Baig, the In-charge of TCS Express and Logistics Centre and warehouse at Khanna Pul, confirmed the incident. "Efforts are on to recover the consignment. It's a very serious issue because I've been told that the industrial machinery in question amounts in millions of rupees. We'll exhaust every option to recover it. If the shipment is not recovered by tonight (Thursday night), we'll launch a detailed inquiry and decide what to do next."
Asked to comment how could a sensitive heavy machinery valuing in millions of rupees be delivered to 'neighbours' without the approval of consignee, Baig said, "For us every equipment is valuable whether it worth a few hundred rupees or millions. We'll find out how this happened."
Abdul Khaliq, Application Specialist, Brio Gin, when approached, confirmed that industrial equipment was Afghanistan-bound where it was to be used for conducting screening tests for hepatitis, tuberculoses and other diseases. Refusing to disclose whether the three machines belonged to the Nato, he said, the machines were bought from Germany and transported to Singapore from where they landed in Karachi.
"I can't divulge who the shipment was going to, but I can tell that TCS was supposed to bring the machines from Karachi to Islamabad. We paid the TCS over a hundred thousand rupees as courier charges and the machines valued more than 100 million rupees. We'll not let it go, we'll sue the TCS for this negligence if our shipment is not recovered."
Nato Spokesman in Afghanistan, Brigadier General Heinz Feldmann, on contact, asked this correspondent to send the relevant queries through an email. The email seeking the Nato's version on the matter was sent to the spokesman but it went unreturned till this report was filed.
The security insiders did not rule out the possibility that the equipment could be stolen or deliberately misplaced. "There's quite less a possibility that this kind of machinery simply went missing because of being delivered at a wrong address. Things may turn a lot suspicious considering the prevalent circumstances."