Gandamar's; The Young Smugglers

Young smugglers on motorcycles challenge law enforcers in the Frontier

Publishing Date: Wednesday, March 23 2005

Every day, 23-year-old Mumtaz Khan covers his head with a dirty cloth to protect his identity and transports smuggled goods to Peshawar's main bus terminal for onward dispatch to the rest of the country. Hailing from Jalalabad, the capital of Afghanistan's eastern Ningarhar province, Khan is one of several motorcycle riders who pose a serious challenge to the law-enforcement agencies in the provincial capital. Like him, between 100 and 150 such carriers, called gandamars in Pashto, risk their lives every day, carrying smuggled goods on busy city routes. In broad daylight, they transport non-duty paid foreign items from the warehouses in Jamrud and Achini Bala villages of Khyber Agency's Bara tehsil areas near Peshawar to the city's main bus terminal.

Carrying large cartons fastened to the back of their two-wheelers, the gandamars deftly manoeuvre crowded streets of Peshawar. "Driving two-wheelers with heavy cartons on the back seat requires a lot of expertise," says Khan, who does not use a helmet because it restricts his head movement. Several riders, he says, have fractured their limbs or been involved in fatal road accidents. "Others have experienced head injuries or broken their teeth because they lost balance while manoeuvnng the traffic," says Khan. According to Naushad Khan, a shopkeeper in Peshawar's Karkhano Market which is the hub of smuggled goods, a carrier working for him was in bed for a fortnight after he sustained serious injuries during an accident. The police hit him with a heavy stone � a common practice to stop carriers who refuse to respond to police signals � and the carrier lost control of the motor bike.

But the carriers do not only endanger their own lives. They often drive recklessly on the busy Khyber Road or other crowded city routes, posing danger to other commuters. On January 17, for example, Taj Alam, a commuter, succumbed to his injuries after being hit by a speedy carrier. Some five years ago, these carriers used to transport smuggled goods on bicycles from Landi Kotal, the headquarters of the Khyber Agency, some 50 kilometres west of Peshawar, to the city's Karkhano Market. They carried big cartons packed with a wide range of items, including Korean fabric and blankets as well as Japanese electric appliances such as juicers, blenders and television sets. "Scenes of carriers crossing the treacherous mountainous route from Landi Kotal to Peshawar were common in those days," says Munawar Afridi, a Khyber tribesman who runs a shop in Karkhano Market.

These days, however, motorcycles are replacing bicycles as they are quicker and thus harder to intercept. As Khan puts it: "One can escape easily if confronted by any of the law enforcement agencies on the city roads." Khan must know, as he makes four trips a day from Bara and Jamrud to transport consignments into Peshawar, specifically bazaars and godowns in houses located close to the city's main bus terminal near Chughulpura.

Some carriers also use especially designed tricycles, often posing as handicapped people. This option, however, is no safer. In December last year, a 'handicapped' gandamar was crushed to death in front of the Peshawar Press Club by a speeding minibus. The bus ran over the tricycle after the driver failed to slow down on the overcrowded Sher Shah Suri Road.

Although aware of the job's dangers, Khan says that he works as a carrier because he has no other means of livelihood. "How will I feed my family of eight if I stop doing this?" he asks. Khan works 15 to 16 days in a month, earning an average of 1,000 rupees every day at the rate of 250 rupees per trip. From this, he pays about 6,000 rupees as the monthly rent for his Yamaha 100. Bicycle carriers, meanwhile, earn between 120 to 130 rupees per trip and can only make two trips in a day if they really stretch themselves.

For their part, law-enforcement agencies, including the police and the customs department, have been ineffective in meeting the challenge posed by the carriers. "I can provide you the details of seizures we made in areas falling under the jurisdiction of the Pishtakhara and Hayatabad police stations," says Abid Ali, SSP district Peshawar, acknowledging that the problem is acute. "However, we can't only tackle this issue and ignore all our other responsibilities. We have lots of other important things to take care of."

Meanwhile, information gathered from business circles in Karkhano Market suggests that carriers constitute only a small part of a big network engaged in the smuggling business. Apparently, senior officers of the law enforcement agencies and the lower grade staff are also involved. But the police authorities sidestep this contention. "We can't go after every carrier to curb the menace," says a police officer, claiming that the police nab all the carriers that they encounter. "There are other law-enforcement agencies that are primarily responsible for dealing with smuggling," he insists. But this only amounts to passing the buck. Many carriers, in fact, say that it is easier to secure release from the police than any other agency because they are content with smaller bribes than the others. "Once caught, you will never get your goods back," says one gandamar, "but the police will easily free you if you pay them."

The customs department has also made little headway despite an elaborate set-up in the Frontier. "Under the Central Bureau of Revenue's (CBR) new anti-smuggling policy devised in July 2004, we only act against smugglers when we have information regarding smuggling bids," says a senior officer of the department. He claims that dozens of trucks and buses were recently impounded and the department has confiscated a huge quantity of smuggled goods in the last two months. "But without information we do not act in light of the CBR's standing instructions," he adds.

This policy, however, is widely ridiculed by business circles affected by the illegal practice and those associated with the smuggling network, who point out that carriers freely pass the customs office in Peshawar on their way to the main bus terminal from the Karkhano Market. "It is only the police that we must avoid because there is no mobile squad of the customs department to watch out for us," says Khan. This point is duly acknowledged by Peshawar-based CBR officers.

Gone are the days, confirms a Karkhano Market shopkeeper, when the carriers left the main roads on seeing a customs mobile squad or changed routes after being signalled by their companions coming from the opposite direction. "Now, their job is made easy by Yamaha 100s or Honda 125s which are even better," he claims. And thrilling as well, Khan adds. "It's good business with the added bonus of a joyride with the temptation to overtake vehicles left, right and centre at 120 kilometres an hour."