‘Illegal courier service’ in guise of factory machinery import
Bearing telltale signs of an illegal courier service, some 70 tonnes of personal goods and contraband items were seized by Chattogram Customs House on Sunday for being imported under a false declaration of being factory machinery, apparently to evade duty.
The goods arrived at the Chattogram port from South Korea on January 17 in three containers, imported by Narayanganj-based Sohel Textile Mills and one Mollika Traders listed as the clearing and forwarding agent.
In customs documents, the importer stated it to be eight sets of old power looms worth $20,000.
But thorough inspections based on a tip-off revealed electrical items such as old circuit breakers, cosmetics and household goods hidden out of sight in the back of the containers, said sources in the port.
For export-oriented factories, importing power looms bear only 1 per cent tax of the cost price. For cosmetics, it amounts to anything from 89 per cent to 131 per cent. Import of old circuit breakers is prohibited for the risks they pose, as per customs.
The sources said there were at least 35 packages with writings on the outside in Bangla and English apparently denoting the receivers' name, location and mobile number.
The addresses were mostly in Narayanganj, Sylhet, Brahmanbaria and Noakhali.
The Daily Star contacted one of the recipients, one Parvej Mia in Brahmanbaria.
"My brother Ashraf is supposed to send some products from South Korea. However, I do not know how it was sent," said the person at the other end of the call.
"My brother sent us some clothes and household goods several times and also pays the courier cost and customs duty for sending these goods. But I don't know if it comes through ports or airports," said the receiver.
Another receiver, "Shah Jahan" in "Sylhet", said to have no knowledge about it.
His son Alam, the sender, later made contact. He said to have paid a Bangladeshi expatriate in South Korean Tk 1 lakh to deliver his goods.
"If these products were sent through cargo flight or foreign post office, it would have cost me around Tk 2 lakh, including tax," he said.
"I sent the goods in containers to reduce my cost. I have sent products many times earlier through the seaport but then there was no problem," he frankly admitted.
He claimed to not know that this was illegal.
Rezaul Karim, an assistant commissioner of the customs house, told The Daily Star that the discovery was made last Thursday.
Asked whether any illegal courier service was at play, he said, "We will look into how and for what purpose these products came here."
He also said legal steps was being taken against those involved, including the importer.
The owner of Sohel Textile Mills, Subuj Hossain, and proprietor of Mollika Traders did not respond to repeated calls of this correspondent.
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