Special anti-smuggling drive at Ctg port
The Customs Intelligence lunched a two-day special drive titled "Operation Irene" at Chittagong Port yesterday to prevent trafficking of small arms, explosives, and drugs in parcels.
Officials of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate yesterday checked the imported goods stored at three cargo sheds of the port using the dog squad of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).
Chittagong Customs House and Chittagong Port Authority also assisted the drive.
Additional Director General of the directorate Hossain Ahmed told The Daily Star that the special drive was being carried out as part of an anti-smuggling campaign going on simultaneously in 33 other countries in the Asia Pacific region, coordinated by Regional Intelligence Liaison Office for Asia Pacific (RILO AP), the intelligence wing of World Customs Organisation.
Bangladesh as an active member country of RILO AP has taken the WCO initiative with much importance as security has become a global concern, he added.
No illegal cargo was detected on the first day, he said.
The inspection was carried out yesterday at the port sheds where the cargoes imported in LCL (less than container load) containers are stored after being unstuffed from the containers. Each LCL container carries goods of different importers instead of one.
The directorate's Deputy Director SM Shamimur Rahman said other imported containers, which were directly delivered from the port, usually underwent scanning, physical examination, and other procedures; so they were focusing on LCL containers during the special drive.
The first day's drive that started at 11:00am went on for over six hours. The drive will continue at the remaining three cargo sheds of the port today.
Earlier, the Customs Intelligence conducted such special drives at the cargo sheds of Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport for three days from Thursday and found six bottles of foreign liquor in an imported container.
With an aim to check smuggling, countrywide special drives started on July 8, the first one being conducted at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. They will continue at all ports of entry -- land, sea and air -- till July 23.
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