Tk 5.5cr smuggled cigarette seized from container
Special Correspondent
After a tip-off by a clearing agent, customs officials yesterday confiscated a huge amount of foreign cigarettes inside a 40-foot container, which was officially declared to contain electric-touch-lamps, at the Inland Container Depot (ICD) at Kamlapur. Shipped from the Chinese port of Shen Zen, the container arrived at the Kamlapur ICD from Chittagong port on July 25. The estimated street value of the cigarettes would be around Tk 5.5 crore, customs sources said. The Commissioner of Customs at the ICD, Almas Uzzaman said they could not trace the importer, who apparently used false letterhead of the company. One Mofizul Islam of Messrs Surovi Enterprise, 30 Mokim Batara, Dhaka imported the contraband with official clearance for importing 6,000 pieces of electric-touch-lamps. The customs officials who opened the container yesterday found several boxes containing lamps used as camouflage. Inside they discovered hundreds of cartons containing Benson and Hedges cigarettes. "As soon as the Clearing and Forwarding agent SSAF Global told us that they were unwilling to process paperwork for clearing the merchandise because they suspected foul play, we immediately involved several law enforcement agencies to trap the importer, but he could not be found," said Almas Uzzaman. The Kamlapur ICD accommodates over 2,000 containers coming from Chittagong port by train for customs clearance. The haul was first of its kind in three months, said the customs commissioner. Customs officials said a departmental case would be started to investigate the matter. Anti Corruption Commission's Deputy Assistant Director Akhter Hamid said they would investigate the matter and decided whether to file a case.
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Customs officials seize smuggled foreign cigarettes worth around Tk 5.5 crore from a container at the Inland Container Depot at Kamlapur in the capital yesterday. PHOTO: STAR |
