At least 31 tonnes of dates were seized from a cold storage in Narayanganj's Kanchpur area during a drive by the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection yesterday afternoon.

Among these 14 tonnes were past the expiry date, said officials of DNCRP.

Abdus Salam, Assistant Director from Dhaka office, led the drive along with support from Md Salimuzzaman, Assistant Director of Narayanganj office and a police team.

On a tip off, the DNCRP raided Star Multipurpose Cold Storage in Kutubpur area of Kanchpur next to Dhaka-Chattogram Highway, where they found the dates of two separate enterprises stored, Abdus Salam told reporters.

During the drive they found that 14 tonnes of dates from Mosumi Enterprise expired in 2021. These dates worth around Tk 21.66 lakhs would have allegedly been marked with fake stickers extending the expiry date.

Meanwhile, dates worth Tk 26.94 lakh from Madina Enterprise were seized due to lack of paperwork.

"They wanted to sell these dates by creating an artificial crisis in local markets during Ramadan. No one has been fined yet. Legal action will be taken against those involved after the final investigation. Drives will continue," he added

Notably, the commerce ministry yesterday fixed the price of dates, a key item of iftar.

In a notice, the ministry fixed the price of low grade dates at Tk 150 to Tk 165 per kilogramme (kg).