A clerk from Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) Customs has been suspended, and an FIR has been registered after smuggled mobile phones and other items were discovered following a road accident near Bisham in Lower Kohistan on March 30.
Two Customs officials, posted at the Sost station, were on their way to their hometowns for Eid when their vehicle was involved in an accident, resulting in injuries to both. During the rescue operation, local volunteers and police discovered a large number of mobile phones at the accident site.
Following the incident, social media platforms were flooded with claims that over 2,000 mobile phones, allegedly seized earlier at the Pakistan-China border in Sost, were being smuggled when the accident took place.
When contacted by HUM News English, Sost Customs Assistant Collector (AC) Usman Chattha confirmed that initial reports indicated the recovery of about 10 to 12 mobile phones from the scene. He dismissed the social media claims of over 2,000 phones being recovered as inaccurate.
“We are investigating the matter, as both individuals involved are injured and currently unable to give statements. Once their condition stabilizes, we will thoroughly probe the matter from all angles and update the public and media accordingly,” AC Usman Chattha said.
On Friday, G-B Customs issued an official statement, confirming that two G-B Customs officials traveling in a private rented vehicle were involved in an accident near Bisham City on March 30, 2025.
The statement confirmed that local police recovered “210 mobile phones and other items from the scene and documented the seizure in an official report.”
One of the officers, Appraising Officer Hafiz Muhammad Nazim Butt, was critically injured and is currently undergoing treatment at PIMS Hospital, Islamabad, while the other, upper division clerk (UDC) Muhammad Abu Bakar, was unharmed.
The statement also clarified that smugglers, whose 17,613 mobile phones (worth approximately Rs 500 million) were recently seized by G-B Customs, began spreading rumors that an additional 210 mobile phones were part of the confiscated goods. They falsely inflated the numbers, claiming that thousands of phones had been seized.
