How are mobile phones being smuggled into Pakistan and sold here?

The federal government report disclosed that Dubai is the most frequent air route used for mobile smuggling into Pakistan.

According to sources Dubai is the most frequent air route used for mobile phone smuggling in Pakistan through various airports, especially Peshawar, Sialkot, Faisalabad, and Karachi. Besides, porters, kids, and Laghris (petty smugglers) smuggle mobile phones through Angoor Adda and Chaman border crossings.

Around 1,500 Laghris cross Friendship Gate, Chaman border daily, and each Laghri carries one or two mobile phones while crossing the border into Pakistan, sources added.

Sources said that the PM Secretariat has also directed FBR and other departments to conduct fact-finding inquiries with more than 80 officials and shared the consolidated final report with categorical recommendations.

Mobile smuggling is carried out in an organized manner by unscrupulous elements with the connivance and active support of various LEA officials.

According to the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI), the smuggling of mobile phones caused a loss of $1.1 billion to the national exchequer in FY 2021-22.

Sources said that Pakistan has witnessed a sharp increase in its teledensity (from 2.5 percent in 2002 to 80 percent in 2023) in a short period, primarily owing to improved connectivity resulting from massive foreign direct investment in the telecom sector.

Consequently, demand for cellular phones has increased upto 36 million which is met through different means including 21.94 million local manufacturing, 1.53 million imports, and 12.53 million through smuggling.

Factors including increases in import taxes and price hikes due to unprecedented appreciation of the greenback have contributed toward the smuggling of expensive phones.

The price differential between legally imported and smuggled smartphones also provided enough leverage for smugglers to make smart devices available in local markets at comparatively cheaper rates, thus causing colossal losses worth billions of rupees to the national exchequer.

Methods used by mobile dealers/shopkeepers to make the smuggled phones usable in Pakistan include replacing the IMEl of new smuggled and expensive mobile phones with old/dilapidated and cheaper ones.

Various models of Samsung, Vivo, Oppo, and OnePlus are being used for patching of smuggled / Non-PTA approved expensive mobile phones which makes them cheaper than legally imported/PTA-approved phones.

Another method employed by the shopkeepers is to change the IMEI number of smuggled mobile phones through CPID paid software which is easily available on www.cpidserver.com. Besides, a list of 92 such dealers involved in the patching of mobile phones.

Sources said that the PM Secretariat has asked departments to implement a rotational policy for LEA officials posted at entry and exit points of airports, land border crossings, and sea ports so that they may not be able to develop intimacy with mobile smugglers.