Ctg customs seize fake cigarette band rolls worth Tk 143 crore

The Chattogram customs house today seized 3.2 crore pieces of fake tax stamps that were brought in illegally to the port city through a container under the declaration of having papers from China.

The entry of the stamps, which are normally used in cigarette packets, would have caused the government to count a loss in revenue of somewhere around Tk 90 crore to Tk 143 crore, according to customs officials.

The goods were brought in by Chattogram's Andarkilla-based importer Bappu Enterprise, which announced that the container has 15 tonnes of papers worth Tk 9 lakh in it.

Modhumati Associates Ltd was the clearing and forwarding agent that was supposed take delivery of the container, the customs officials said in a press release.

After examining the products, the officials found 246 packets of the fake stamps hidden inside art papers, said Mohammad Salahuddin Rizvi, deputy commissioner of Chattogram Custom House.

"Bappu Enterprise imported the stamps by getting those prepared from China."

According to the rules set by the National Board of Revenue (NBR), the cigarette importer companies have to collect band rolls from the Security Printing Corporation (Bangladesh) Ltd, the main printer of banknotes and government postal stamps in Bangladesh.

The NBR earns revenue by selling this types of stamps and it is not allowed to buy the stamps from none other than the NBR or import those from abroad.