• FBR introduced “Auction Module” in its WeBOC system in 2021.
• 103 vehicles fraudulently uploaded using fake user identities: FBR.
• Seven FIRs lodges, 13 individuals arrested in connection with scam.

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has unearthed a major scandal and found Customs officers involved in collusion with the Motor Registration Authorities (MRAs) and car dealers in the regularisation of over 100 smuggled vehicles, The News reported on Thursday.

It may be recalled that in order to strengthen control mechanisms and prevent the misuse of auctioned vehicles, FBR in August 2021 introduced the “Auction Module” in its WeBOC system.

This system enhancement was aimed at addressing the issue of multiple vehicles being registered against documents issued by Customs after the auction of confiscated smuggled vehicles.

Through this module, MRAs were enabled to verify auctioned vehicle details online before registration, significantly reducing reliance on paper-based manual verifications. The goal was to both strengthen institutional controls and facilitate legitimate buyers.

However, despite these reforms, reports emerged in July 2025 regarding the misuse of the aforementioned Auction Module. In response, FBR immediately initiated an inquiry into the matter.

Since the module’s launch, details of 1,909 vehicles had been uploaded on the system. Upon detailed scrutiny, it was discovered that 103 of these vehicles had been fraudulently uploaded using fake user identities. MRAs had already registered 43 out of these 103 smuggled vehicles, effectively granting them an appearance of legal clearance.

Based on a digital audit and internal investigations, the FBR identified the user IDs through which the fraud was committed. As a result, on July 9, 2025, FBR suspended one Deputy Collector and one Assistant Collector, whose credentials had been misused in the commission of this crime.

The investigation further revealed that this was part of a wider criminal racket involving officials from MRAs and car dealers. Recognising the gravity of the issue, FBR determined that the matter warranted action beyond internal disciplinary proceedings.

Accordingly, a formal request by FBR was made on July 9, 2025 for the constitution of a Joint Investigation Committee (JIT), comprising senior officers from the FIA, Customs and Intelligence Agencies. The JIT was tasked with a comprehensive probe into the scam, including the manipulation of the Customs digital system.

Following FBR’s formal complaint to FIA dated 10th July, 2025, the JIT commenced its investigation. As a result, on 28th August, 2025, the FIA lodged an FIR against already identified officers, after being found involved in fraudulently legalising smuggled vehicles.

On Wednesday, these individuals were formally arrested by FIA.

It is also pertinent to mention that Customs Enforcement has so far lodged seven FIRs and arrested 13 individuals in connection with this broader scam.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been having quite a rocky ride of late. Of course, if one were to go purely by the way much of the mainstream India media (pejoratively called “Godi media” by many non-BJP supporters in India) Modi can still do no wrong.

However, the situation for him on social media, in particular, where the BJP Troll Army used to hold sway till not too long ago, seems to have changed considerably.

Several things have contributed to this, and all of these have given rise to very popular memes. The first relates to Operation Sindoor and how the Indians basically ran to the US and asked it to request Pakistan for a ceasefire. The US obliged, and US President Trump deftly played the trade deal card and got both sides to stop.

However, soon after relations between India and the US, specifically between Modi and Trump, soured, with the former refusing to publicly acknowledge any American role in the ceasefire.

In the weeks that have followed, Trump has said on record that he was the one who stopped the war, which he has repeated could have gone nuclear — a war in which between five to seven jets were shot down (he has used the figure of five, six and most recently seven) after he persuaded both countries to end it and in return the US would offer them a trade deal.

Pakistan played its cards deftly, with its army chief even being invited to a one-on-one lunch by the most powerful man in the world, to getting a relatively low tariff of 19% — compared to India’s at 50%. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) also followed this up by approving investment in Pakistan, and in particular, a $410 million financing for the Reko Diq project.

The ADB stated that this was the first financing of its kind under the new Critical Minerals-to-Manufacturing Value Chains approach and marked the bank’s first financing of a mining project in decades.

And more potential rewards followed for Pakistan, with the US resuming fisheries imports after a several-year prohibition.

The rocky ride, so to speak, is of course not entirely related to America’s improving ties with Pakistan. It has a lot to do with India’s own faults, in particular Modi’s insecure and paranoid personality. According to a German publication, he did not take at least four phone calls from the US president, and while much of India’s mainstream media takes that as a sign of Modi standing up to a bully, the fact is that Modi doesn’t want to be confronted by the truth.

After all, he cannot admit before his right-wing Hindutva followers that it was India which requested a ceasefire with Pakistan — that would be a major no-no and could cost him the right-wing vote.

There is also the tariff issue, but it stems mainly from Modi’s mishandling of the Operation Sindoor fiasco and his refusal to acknowledge the role played by the US and in particular President Trump. This was further exacerbated by its oil imports from Russia, which is then refined by companies owned by Modi’s friends and sold at a sizeable profit.

The consequence of this chain of events and the rapid deterioration in ties between India and the US has seen Modi cosying up with the presidents of Russia and China at last week’s SCO summit. While the Godi media has made much of his photo ops holding the hands of Presidents Putin and Xi, the Indian prime minister has been severely ridiculed and mocked for now running to express solidarity with a country that has defeated it at least twice in war recently.

One is, of course, speaking of China, where in Galwan in 2020-21 its military inflicted an embarrassing loss on India’s military. And the other is the conflict with Pakistan in May this year, where missiles and fighter jets supplied to Pakistan by China were behind the shooting down of as many as seven Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter jets, including three Rafales.

One can and should ask how Modi can now justify coddling up to China. And the answer to that is that this is a face-saving exercise for him because the only reason for him to act the way he did during the SCO summit was because India and US ties are now at an abysmal low and look likely unsalvageable, at least for the remainder of President Trump’s second term.

The photo ops at the SCO summit are just that — optics — and they don’t define a bilateral relationship. And in the not-too-distant past, India has tried to cosy up to the US while simultaneously leading alliances like BRICS, which the US sees as working against its interests.

That duplicity has now been called out, and it won’t be seen as duplicitous only by America but by China as well. Pakistan’s own relationship with China is very strong and as the May conflict showed, it’s at a level militarily with no other such example elsewhere in the world. And it is unlikely that there would be space for India in this.

India is clearly eyeing a trade relationship with China, which means it doesn’t see itself fighting a war with it. That is a positive development because by extension, it should seek the same kind of relationship with Pakistan as well. That would be a potentially win-win situation for both countries. But it will take more than someone like Modi to do that.

Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed in this piece are the writer’s own and don’t necessarily reflect Geo.tv’s editorial policy.

The writer is a journalist based in Karachi. He posts @omar_quraishi and can be reached at: [email protected]

Originally published in The News