FAISLABAD:
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested six people, including four PASCO employees and a private broker, for stealing wheat and tampering with bags with soil, officials said on Monday.
The operation was carried out at the PASCO warehouse in Tandlianwala and the FIA obtained a five-day remand of the accused from the court.
According to the FIA, during the raid conducted by SHO FIA Faisalabad Ajmal Hussain Awan and his six-member team, nearly 2,000 wheat bags were found filled with soil instead of wheat, with an estimated value of Rs70 million.
The warehouse was supposed to store 18,000 bags of wheat and verification of all stocks is underway.
No senior officials from PASCO or the Ministry of Food were present during the raid.
The accused taken into custody included Assistant Procurement Inspector Shamsher, Chowkidar Suhail, Chowkidar Ali Sher and Chowkidar Kashif.
FIA sources said the suspects caused losses of tens of millions of rupees to the national exchequer by adulterating and siphoning wheat from government reserves.
Following information obtained from the suspects, FIA teams conducted a raid on a private warehouse in Okara, recovering 1,400 bags of wheat allegedly transferred from Tandlianwala.
The operation also led to the arrest of PASCO zone head Okara Rao Tariq Mahmood and private broker Muhammad Mansha, who were questioned over their involvement.
Investigators also recovered 1,000 empty burlap bags from the private warehouse.
FIA officials said the arrested individuals admitted to adulterating wheat with soil and siphoning off around 1,200 bags, causing large financial losses to the national exchequer.
The agency expanded the scope of its investigation and launched additional searches to apprehend other co-conspirators involved in the scheme.
