WATCH: Afghan mob thrashes Pakistan customs officers during raid on cloth smugglers

After conducting a raid to confiscate illicit items from a market in the city’s major commercial district, a team of Customs officers, joined by police and paramilitary rangers, were ambushed by an Afghan mob living in Pakistan’s largest city. A video that has gone viral depicts scores of Afghans armed with sticks chasing after Customs agents and police and ranger cars on Tariq Road on Monday night as they attempted to conduct a raid.

One of Karachi’s largest business districts, Tariq Road is home to a large number of fabric and garment stores, many of which are owned by Afghans who have since relocated to the city after fleeing their own country. A source in the Customs vigilance confirmed the incident and said the team had gone with police and rangers back up after confirmed intelligence reports that smuggled cloth and fabrics worth millions of rupees were being sold by Afghan shop owners on Tariq Road. Many of the Afghan refugees in Pakistan have established successful businesses in Karachi and other parts of the country and mostly focus on clothes, fabrics, carpets, curtains, and rug businesses. They own or rent shops in nearly all the major commercial centres and malls of Karachi. A police official said the raid had nothing to do with the government announcement that Afghans living illegally in Pakistan had to return home by November 1 or would be sent back to Afghanistan forcibly after the deadline. It is a case of the smuggling that takes place between Pakistan and Afghanistan and the smuggled goods are sold openly in big markets of Karachi and other cities, the SSP ranked officer, who declined to be named, said. The video shows the Afghans running after the raiding party with sticks and then smashing and damaging glasses and bodies of vehicles in the area.