Staff Reporter :
Customs officials at Chittagong Sea Port on Monday seized huge quantities of contraband imported under false declaration, sources involved with the investigation said.
They said the illegal goods like liquor, cigarettes, TVs and photocopy machines were imported under false declarations as capital machinery.
Six out of 12 containers seized have worth about Tk 1 billion cigarettes, liquor, television and photocopier sets which were imported from China under the false declaration.
“The contraband include huge quantities of cigarettes, up to 90 inches televisions and world’s most costly liquors like Royal Salute, Chivas Regal, Tequila Silver,” Moinul Khan, Directorate General of Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate, told The New Nation on Monday. Mentionable that Royal Salute, Chivas Regal, Tequila Silver liquors are among top ten most costly branded liquors of the globe.
So far, six of the 12 containers have been opened at the New Mooring Container Terminal at the port in presence of officials of the directorate and local customs house.
Moinul Khan said huge quantities of television sets were found during physical inspection of the six containers that came in the second consignment.
Besides, a huge quantity of photocopy machines, cigarettes and television sets were also found in the containers, he added.
However, an approximation of the specifics was not available till filling this report.
“We are trying to trace both the importer and exporter as they are absconding since we are investigating the irregularities in this regard,” he said.
The two consignments have been brought by two separate business firms-Henan Anhui Agro Lc at Dumni of Khilkhet in Dhaka and Agro BD & JP of Keraniganj. Both the firms are owned by a person named Khorshed Alam.
Customs officials, however, said that the contraband in the dozen containers could amount to over Tk 100 crore which was declared to be capital machinery for animal feed on papers.
