Shah Alam Nur :
The incidents of imported goods missing from the cargo warehouse at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) have gone up alarmingly, causing serious concern among the importers.
Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) found that more than 5000 imported consignments worth approximately Tk 9.0 billion disappeared over the last ten months until October.The government was deprived of earning revenue to the tune of Tk 70 million because of the disappearance of the imported items during the period.
Admitting the fact of missing goods, mostly industrial raw materials from the cargo godown, CIID Director General Moinul Khan told The New Nation on Sunday that they had formed a five-member committee of Customs Officials to find out exact reasons behind the incidents.
“Our intelligence cell has so far identified that more than 5000 imported consignments worth approximately Tk 9.0 billion vanished from cargo godown of HSIA during the January-October period,” said the CIID Director General.
He mentioned airports and seaports as the lifeline of any economy. Missing of imported goods from the state warehouse is not a good signal for the businesses.
According to the CIID investigation team, a total of 40,293 imported goods are registered with the cargo godown but documents of 5000 were found missing during the period.
Seeking anonymity, an official linked with the investigation process, said they initially found that some unscrupulous officials both at Biman Bangladesh Airlines and private agencies who deal with clearing products from the cargo warehouse are involved in the missing incidents.
“We cannot provide anything in detail right at the moment as the investigation process is still going on,” he said, adding that they have been counting nature and cost of the vanished goods.
President of Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) Abdus Salam Murshedy said there is a powerful syndicate prevailing at HSIA which shifts goods to somewhere else without cross-checking and paying import duty.
He said they have placed complaints before the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) and Biman to take necessary actions to prevent such unholy practices.
“But unfortunately we haven’t yet received any visible response from the authorities concerned,” the EAB president said, adding the garment owners are losing millions of taka every year due to disappearance and damage of goods at the airport godown.
A senior official of Biman (cargo) said: “Not only Biman but also private agencies are responsible for this.”
He said the authority received a good number of complaints from the importers about the ‘unknown thefts. “But we’re yet to investigate those. We have a plan to conduct probe soon relating to the complaints,” he added. President of Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association (BAFFA) Mahbubul Anam said Biman cannot avoid their responsibility through shifting the blame to others.
“Biman should take the responsibility and must come up with some sorts of rapid initiative to remove the pains of the business community,” he added.
