Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday said that retail sugar prices should not exceed Rs164 after the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) warned sugar mills against price manipulation.

Contrary to the rates announced by the prime minister as well as several attempts by the government to maintain retail sales at Rs130 per kg, sugar prices in the markets continue to soar above Rs180 per kg in various markets across the country.

Sugar consumption is forecast to increase slightly to 6.7 million tonnes as it has continuously grown due to the population growth and demand from the food processing sector.

During the last season, Pakistan produced more than 6.84m tonnes of sugar, which is expected to rise in 2024-25.

Speaking to journalists, the deputy prime minister said that according to news reports, there was a spike in sugar prices to Rs178 -179, “which is obviously not tolerable” to the prime minister.

“So yesterday we had a late night meeting so we could conclude this matter — so we can together find a viable way in which a common citizen can find relief and he doesn’t have to hear talks of [sugar prices] reaching Rs180 to Rs200,” he said.

“And we reach a reasonable price where you don’t suffer losses either — [so] a subcommittee is being made for the numbers which Rana Tanveer sahab [minister for national food security and research] will head.”

Dar said the committee will work until April 19 to determine costs and provide feedback on the sugar mills claims — that they were not responsible for the price hike of the commodity.

He also added that they needed to work on a system so that the “common man can have cheaper sugar … but for that we would need a distribution channel and an implementation mechanism is necessary”.

On Federal Board of Revenue (FBR)’s sales tax on sugar, he said that it would be charged at Rs154 to 155 — with the price cap at Rs159.

He said that the government will work to gather intelligence reports, along with the CCP, which will also collect data.

Given this alleged massive siphoning from the consumers, the CCP had stated that it was closely monitoring the ongoing sugar crisis and warned that strict enforcement and policy actions will be taken if any anti-competitive activities are found.

The CCP has been working to curb cartelisation in the sugar industry, promoting fair competition and protecting consumers.

“We need to ensure a two tier system and if the government is satisfied that we can implement the two tier system, the advantage will be that the common man can get sugar at a cheaper price,” Dar said.

The CCP inquiry launched in 2020 revealed that sugar mills were prima facie engaged in price-fixing and controlling supply through coordinated actions facilitated by the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA).

As part of the investigation, the CCP also conducted raids and imposed Rs44 billion in penalties on sugar mills and the PSMA in August 2021, one of the highest fines in its history.

A crown over a soccer ball. An eyeball that “looked cool.” Flowers.

Those are some of the everyday tattoos that defense lawyers say helped lead to the sudden weekend deportation of roughly 200 Venezuelan men who are accused of being members of the ruthless gang Tren de Aragua.

President Donald Trump ordered the men removed from the U.S. and sent to a notorious El Salvadoran prison under an 18th century wartime law that allows noncitizens to be deported without due process.

The proclamation issued by Trump argued that the wartime law applied because the gang is “perpetrating an invasion” of the United States.

Most lawyers have dismissed that argument and noted that the government has not produced evidence to prove the men are gang members. The men were flown out of the country before they could meet with their attorneys.

Tattoos are signals of membership in some Latin American gangs, with the facial tattoos of the El Salvadoran group MS-13 perhaps the best known. Experts, though, say tattoos are not central to Tren de Aragua. They also note that tattoos, hugely popular all over the world, are often nothing more than body art.

U.S. officials have said agents did not rely on “tattoos alone” to identify gang members before the weekend flights. But lawyers and family members say tattoos were repeatedly used to argue that the men belonged to Tren de Aragua.

Take Jerce Reyes Barrios, 36, whose defense lawyer said in a sworn declaration that authorities identified him as a gang member in part because of a tattoo of a crown over a soccer ball and the word “Dios,” or God.

Reyes Barrios, though, had been a professional soccer player and he chose that tattoo because the crown looked like the logo of his favorite team, the Spanish soccer club Real Madrid, his lawyer, Linette Tobin said in the filing.

She included a photo of the tattoo in the filing.

The crown looks very similar to the Real Madrid logo.

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