Pakistan Customs busted a massive amount of black tea being hoarded illegally in Karachi on Tuesday.

According to sources, Customs raided a warehouse in Hawkes Bay and found 530 tons of black tea which was illegally stored there.

Authorities believe that the tea’s value could be as high as Rs1.6 billion.

Custom intelligence had started monitoring a consignemnt of 14 tons of tea that had been cleared by Port Qasim collectorate based on a tip off.

The intelligence team found that the subsidised tea was transferred to Abdullah Warehouse in Hawkes Bay instead of being transported to Kashmir.

At this the team sprung into action and recovered the hoarded tea in the warehouse.

Authorities believe that almost 3,000 tons of tea have been sold in karachi without paying tax. The operations caused billions of ruppes in losses to the national exchequer.

Tea is one of Pakistan’s biggest imports, with $336.423 million being imported in the last year alone.