Parliament told the handset case was isolated
Pakistan’s Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has concluded that a disputed customs release of one courier-imported iPhone 16 Pro Max does not point to a countrywide pattern of wrongdoing. Finance and Revenue Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb set out the findings in a written reply to Parliament, framing the episode as a quarrel between two private parties over a single device.
He said the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO)—the independent tax-complaint body—looked into the matter first. That step led the concerned Customs Collectorate to run a fuller inquiry into how the shipment moved through clearance.
What the customs inquiry found
Investigators reported that FedEx kept the phone until clearance was complete and that every duty and tax due on the import had already been settled. Officers then handed the device to a person authorised to receive it, but only after matching paperwork that included the original detention receipt and the invoice.
Aurangzeb added that the name of that recipient lined up with the details on a checkable airway bill. During the FTO process, the person who had complained also dropped the complaint.
To test whether the episode was unique, the Chief Collector of Customs (Airports) in Islamabad sent the FTO a full account of the review. The work covered an audit of significant FedEx clearances for anything resembling the same problem. In his parliamentary reply, the minister said nothing of that kind had turned up anywhere else.
How courier releases are meant to work now
The government also described the checks meant to stop courier cargo going to the wrong person. Before goods leave customs, staff must match the recipient’s identity against records such as the airway bill and must confirm the department’s original detention receipt.
After the FTO’s conclusions and advice, Customs started an in-house coaching programme for officers and staff at Air Freight Units (AFUs)—the airport desks that handle air cargo—at international airports. Sessions are scheduled each month so clearance steps and document checks stay consistent.
Officials present the iPhone episode as a one-off private dispute, while the audit and the new training underline how tightly courier consignments are supposed to be verified before release.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Sarkar ne Parliament ko bataya ke courier se aane wale ek iPhone ka masla do private logon ka jhagda tha, poori mulk mein waisa koi aur case nahi mila. Phone FedEx ke paas raha, tax aur duty ada ho chuki thin, aur sirf us shakhs ko diya gaya jiska naam documents se match karta tha. Shikayat karne wale ne baad mein complaint wapas le li. Ab airport customs staff ko har mahine training di ja rahi hai taake ghalat shakhs ko saman na mile.
