Benapole custom house seizes illegally imported saris

Benapole customs officials on Thursday seized a truck of Indian saris, three-piece suits for women and cosmetics that were brought in through a false declaration of 15 tonnes of alum from India.

The importer—Fardin Trade Interna-tional—has shown the import price of the consignment to be $3,700.  However, the customs officials could not determine the price of the consignment, which was opened on Friday.

“We have to compare the prices of the goods with the ones in the local market and make an official estimate on the prices of the goods,” said Uttam Chakma, assistant commissioner at Benapole Custom House.

“We will do the comparison on Sunday. We guess the government could have earned Tk 1.25 crore as tax from the consignment.”

Fardin Trade has earlier imported five such consignments in the recent past, a customs official said. The Benapole customs office will file a case against the importer and its clearing and forwarding agents today.

The customs officials also said some people have threatened them over phone to let the products go without any hassle, otherwise they will be killed.