Iron scrap smuggling to Pakistan continues unabated

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Iron scrap still is smuggled from eastern Nangarhar province to Pakistan instead of its consumption locally.

The smuggling of iron scrap continues despite President Ashraf Ghani’s decree banning iron scrap export to other countries in order to boost local steel mills and industry.

Some Wolesi Jirga members and Provincial Council members say iron scrap is still smuggled to Pakistan despite the ban.

Currently, 11 steel mills and three steel bar making factories are functioning in Nangarhar, in which hundreds of people work.

Noor Agha, a lawmaker from Nangarhar province, alleged that iron scrap and locally produced steel bars were smuggled to Pakistan.

He said the smuggling of raw material created difficulties for local industries that face shortage of the materials.

Ahmad Ali Hazrat, a Provincial Council member, also criticized the smuggling of iron scrap to Pakistan and said the scrap hidden under other items in trucks was smuggled to Pakistan on the main road.

But Haji Tor Malan, head of the Chamber of Industry and Mines and owner of a steel bar making factory, rejected the allegations and said the smuggling of iron scrap had been stopped for the past six months.

He said metal smuggling was now a history because iron scrap price had dropped in Pakistan and its transfer to the neighboring country was not fruitful anymore so people preferred to consume it locally.

Deputy Governor Tamim Arif Momand also rejected the smuggling of iron scrap and added this move could be legalized and helps improve the exports of the country.

He believed if local industry has surplus iron scrap, it can be exported to other countries through legal ways and it will not have any problem.

Earlier, there were reports that scrap was being smuggled to Pakistan from Nangarhar.

nh/ma