The Chief Minister of Maharashtra brokered peace in the ongoing tussle between Bollywood and the MNS about not employing Pakistani actors. But this did not deter MNS from issuing a diktat to film producers employing Pakistani actors to pay Rs 5 crore to the Army welfare fund. However, the strong arm tactics of MNS seem to be limited to the film fraternity as data from the government shows that goods worth Rs 26.23 lakh were imported from Pakistan at the Mumbai Air Cargo between 15^th and 25^th October 2016.

Import/Export Data

The e-commerce portal of the ‘Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC)’ provides a daily list of imports and exports from  and to various parts of the country and the world. The data is given in the form a daily list and is categorized by type (sea, air etc.) and the various customs location.  Only the data for the last 7 days is available for download.

Empty Ariel Bags were also imported from Pakistan

Between 15^th and 25^th of October 2016, goods were imported from Pakistan 84 times at Mumbai Air Cargo. A total of 12 different types of items were imported during this period ranging from empty ariel bags to leather to gloves to surgical instruments and even statues. Surgical Instruments were imported a total of 61 times, the highest for any category during this period. Leather items were imported 4 times, gloves 4 times, empty ariel bags once and ariel bags twice. The imports also included items like motor cycle safety jackets, scissors, head guard etc. The imports even included a Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara statue and a Goddess Lakshmi statue. Both these statues were over a 100 years old.

Goods worth Rs 26.23 lakh imported in 10 days

Goods worth Rs 26.23 lakh were imported from Pakistan during this period in Mumbai Air Cargo alone. The five statues/dolls were worth Rs 7.5 lakh, the highest of all the imported items. The Bodhisattava statue was worth Rs 3.61 lakh while the Goddess Lakshmi statue was worth Rs 3.68 lakh. The dental surgical instruments were worth Rs 3.86 lakh while other surgical instruments were worth Rs 3.6 lakh. The single motor cycle safety jacket was worth Rs 2.21 lakh.