What The People Really Want

By far the story of the day. Somehow the absurdity of the event covered was strangely uplifting. You know, people power and all that. Here's a couple of pics to whet your appetite...

The remainder of the story from The News' Karachi city pages today:

Destroying of seized substances

Public raids site; makes off with loot

Bulldozed liquor far less than stated figures; law-enforcement personnel openly pocket bottles

 

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

By Kamran Mansoor

Karachi

 

An event on Tuesday that was meant to be the annual crowning glory of Customs turned into a nightmare for the officials. The traditional mass incineration of narcotics, alcohol and other illegal substances and materials seized by the various authorities of Pakistan, was invaded by the public, who made away with plenty of the illegal substances, throwing the officials and security present on the spot into a frenzy.

 

As per the details, Customs officials claimed on Tuesday to have bulldozed about 19,413 bottles of liquor and 55,600 cans of beer, and torched 177,223 kilogrammes of betel nuts, 185 kg of heroin powder and medicines, 19,250 CDs and VCDs, 3,700 foreign cigarettes, thousands of kilogrammes of household raw material, and other items. The News, however, saw that far fewer bottles of liquor and only 2,000 cans of beer were bulldozed.

 

Customs South Chief Collector Sher Nawaz concurred with this number, but said that about 200,000 cans of beer and 207,913 bottles of liquor had been seized. Moreover, it was observed that several policemen, customs officials and other law-enforcement personnel fearlessly grabbed bottles of liquor in front of senior customs officers as well as the print and electronic media. The officers and policemen then calmly walked away unchecked.

 

Not to be left out, residents of nearby areas also took advantage of the situation, attacked Customs consignments, and made off with liquor, betel nuts and bags of other substances and materials. Later, Customs officials and the Mauripur police baton-charged residents and shot into the air to disperse them – but not before they made away with their booty.

 

Meanwhile, International Customs Day was also celebrated at the Custom House.

Don't know about you, but I got a 'high' just reading that. Take that, Taliban. About time this annual farce stopped.