Mobile phones seized in Bashundhara mall, customs intel officials confined

Mobile shop owners of Dhaka's Bashundhara city shopping mall today confined customs intelligence officials as they seized around 262 phone sets for dodging tax.

A team of customs intelligence led by its Additional Director General Kazi Md Ziauddin with the help of Rapid Action Battalion conducted the raid at the shopping mall around 12:00pm and seized the phone sets   of different brands including 100 iPhone sets.

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The estimated price of the seized phone sets is Tk 2.9 crore, said a press release of the customs intelligence department.

Soon after the raid, around 500 shop owners and their employees confined the customs officials when they were coming out of the shopping mall around 1:00pm by blocking the road in front of the shopping mall.  

Terming the raid as unethical, the agitated shop owners and their employees asked the customs intelligence to return the phones, but a section of the customs officials left the spot along with the seized phone sets.

The mobile businessmen said that the intelligence agencies had seized mobile phones from their shops but did not give those back even after paying taxes.

ADG Kazi Ziauddin along with other customs officials was finally compelled to turn back their vehicle and took another exit but failed as the shop owners and their employees barred them to leave the spot.

At one point, the Rab members were forced to disperse the mob but the shop employees took to the street and blocked one side of the road around 1:20pm, Ziauddin said.

“We had information that some mobile phone shops in this shopping mall were selling iPhones by dodging taxes,” said Ziauddin.

The customs officials were confined for two hours. Shoving and heated words were also exchanged between the law enforcers and the shop employees.

Amid the protest, the customs intelligence team was compelled to hold a meeting with the mobile shop owners around 4:00pm.

After the meeting, Ziauddin said he was leaving the shopping mall with 64 mobile phone sets. Next step will be taken after verifying necessary papers of the phone stets, he added.