Another SUV seized in city

Customs Intelligence seized a sport utility vehicle (SUV) with unauthorised registration plates on Tuesday night from the capital's Banani area.

The BMW X5, seized from the basement of a house owned by a businessman, is worth around Tk 3.5 crore, claimed Moinul Khan, director general of Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate.

The Customs Intelligence investigators conducted the drive at the house based on information that a vehicle with a "strange number plate" was plying the city streets.

The licence plates on the front and back of the car bore the numbers "DHAKA YF 05 PVT", Moinul said, adding that they suspected the vehicle was originally registered in the UK and it was not registered in Bangladesh after it was brought for use in 2011.

The vehicle was brought in the country under the Carnet de Passages facility allows foreign tourists to bring in their vehicles without payment of customs duties for two months to one year. After the expiration of the validity, the owners must send their vehicles back to respective countries, he said.

A good number of luxury cars were brought into the country till 2012 when the government restricted the facilities. As a result, at least 105 such cars got stuck in Chittagong port, he added. 

The Customs Intelligence over the past several months seized at least 44 cars without valid documentation.