Ctg custom seizes 4 consignments on charges of laundering Tk 6.62 crore

Chattogram Customs House has seized four consignments of RM Sourcing Bangladesh, a buying house, on charges of laundering Tk 6.62 crore by exporting goods 22 times more than declaration.

The Dhaka-based buying house has declared export of Tk 29.60 lakh of readymade garments but the customs found goods worth Tk 6.92 crore, customs officials said.  

The consignments were seized just before leaving from Chattogram port to Venezuela and the Philippines on Monday, they said.

According to the documents, the company has opened a letter of credits (LCs) with IFIC Bank to export 24,344 pieces of T-shirt, short set and short pants to Royal Drone International Trading OPC in Venezuela and Nrbaya Consumer Goods Trading in the Philippines.

Customs authority physically examined the consignments at the KDS inland container depot and found 569,322 pieces of T-shirts in the consignment, which is 22 times or 544,978 pieces more than the announcement.

Mohammad Rajib Ahmed, managing director of RM Sourcing Bangladesh, told The Daily Star, "I am not aware of the crime. Only Nrbaya Consumer Goods Trading is my client. There is a discrepancy among My EXP form of the consignments, declared documents and customs report."

"I suspect that the C&F agent or others doing the crime in absence of me," he added.

Bangla Progressive Enterprise was in charge of shipping the consignments on behalf of the exporting company, according to the shipment documents.

Md Sharfuddin Miah, deputy commissioner of Chattogram customs house, said a money laundering case will be filed against the company soon.