Joynal Abedin Khan :
A team of Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation Department (CIID) in a drive seized Indian currency worth around Tk 40 crore from a container in Chittagong Port on Sunday night.
They also arrested at least six persons, including five Clearing and Forwarding (C&F) official of the Port, in connection with the smuggling, said Mukitul Hasan, Chittagong Customs Assistant Commissioner.
The detained persons are C&F agent Flash Trade International Limited Chairman ASM Sayem alias Shamim, Managing Director Asadullah, Director Md Ahammod Ullah Talukder, driver Md Kawser Alam, Towhidul Alam and Saber, a tea boy at the Port’s dock.
“Customs officials found the currency notes in four boxes of the container and suspect that they might be fake. The container arrived in a ship from Fujairah Port in Dubai of United Arab Emirate (UAE). We suspect that the other boxes in the container also have Indian Rupees,” the Customs official said.
One Md Shahiduzzaman, who hails from Chittagong’s Hathajari and lives in Dubai, has sent the container. The container was sealed and it was checked in front of high officials concerned, Mukitul said.
“The container also was shipped by MV Prosper, a marshal island flag carrier. It departed from UAE’s Jebel Ali port on September 12 and arrived at the port on September 16 in the name of C&F agent Shamim of Chittagong,” the Customs official said.
Meanwhile, an allegation was raised that a number of employees of the Port were involved in smuggling of foreign currencies, including India rupees, sources said.
It has assumed that the shipment was done as a camouflage, and Bangladesh was used as a transit route to smuggle the currencies, they alleged.
Indian revenue intelligence has alleged that Pakistani agencies were involved in huge production of fake Indian currency notes in the Middle East, which were then shipped back to South Asia for entry into India.
In December, 2014, India says it has received much cooperation from Bangladesh and Nepal in busting these Pakistan-inspired fake currency rackets that Delhi sees as part of Islamabad’s ‘covert economic warfare’ to undermine India’s national economy.
Moinul Khan, Director General (DG) of Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate, told The New Nation, “There are a total of 165 packages in the container. Indian currencies were recovered from four of the packages. The currencies were kept in hidden chambers of the packages,”
He also said that although the currencies are yet to be examined, it is suspected that these are counterfeit currencies.
Moinul said that the Flash Trade International Limited agent was a black listed one, adding that it has recorded of irregularities.
“Bangladesh was used as a transit route to smuggle the currencies,” the DG confessed.
National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Md Najibur Rahman said, the container was contraband items.
