FAISLABAD:
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested six people, including four PASCO employees and a private broker, on charges of stealing wheat and falsifying sacks of soil, officials said on Monday.
The operation was conducted at the PASCO warehouse in Tandlianwala and the FIA has secured a five-day physical remand of the accused from the court.
According to the FIA, during the raid led by SHO FIA Faisalabad Ajmal Hussain Awan and his six-man team, nearly 2,000 sacks of wheat were found to be filled with soil instead of wheat, with an estimated value of Rs70 million.
The warehouse was supposed to store 18,000 sacks of wheat, and verification of the total stocks is underway.
No senior official from PASCO or the Food Department was present during the raid.
The accused who were remanded in custody included Assistant Purchase Inspector Shamsher, chowkidar Suhail, chowkidar Ali Sher and chowkidar Kashif.
FIA sources said the suspects had caused losses of tens of millions of rupees to the national exchequer by adulterating and siphoning off wheat from government reserves.
Following information obtained from the suspects, FIA teams raided a private warehouse in Okara where they found 1,400 sacks of wheat allegedly transferred from Tandlianwala.
The operation also led to the arrest of PASCO Zonal Head Okara Rao Tariq Mahmood and private broker Muhammad Mansha, who were questioned regarding their involvement.
Investigators also recovered 1,000 empty burlap sacks from the private warehouse.
FIA officials said the arrested persons had admitted to adulterating wheat with soil and siphoning off about 1,200 bags, causing significant financial loss to the national exchequer.
The agency has widened the scope of its investigation and launched additional raids to nab other accomplices involved in the scheme.
