Yarn, machines on paper, liquor in reality

Customs and law enforcement agencies seized a huge amount of liquor, imported on the false declaration of being machines and yarn, from inside two container trucks at Narayanganj's Sonargaon upazila in the early hours of yesterday.  

Two importers who got the goods released from Chattogram port on Friday night used forged "import permissions", a document Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (Bepza) issues to every company inside export processing zones (EPZs).

Import permissions enable making imports duty free. As per the rules, goods imported wholly for the manufacture of exports are exempt from duty.

However, even if anyone has permission to import liquor, they have to pay a duty of 605.80 percent, said customs officials.

It is clear that this is a syndicated crime. Such crimes cannot be organised without the involvement of related customs officials.

— Mobara Khanam, Director general of the Customs Intelligence

Officials could not  determine how much liquor was actually seized at the time of filing this report. Law enforcers were making a list of the seized items as of 6:00pm yesterday. Primarily the two truck drivers were arrested, Tanvir Mahmud Pasha, commanding officer of Rapid Action Battalion-11, told The Daily Star.

In import documents, Hashy Tiger Company, located at Cumilla EPZ, stated it was importing 15.7 tonnes of yarn worth $19,800 from a Chinese company.

Meanwhile, BHK Textile, located at Ishwardi EPZ, stated it was importing 20 tonnes of roving bobbins worth $20,900 from another Chinese company.

Zafar Ahmed, a clearing and forwarding (C&F) agent, was responsible for unloading the goods from the port on behalf of the importers as per the documents.

Despite repeated attempts, this newspaper could not reach the importers and C&F agent over phone for comments.

Related documents collected by The Daily Star show that both consignments had been assessed by Revenue Officer Nasir Uddin of Chattogram Customs House at 8:34pm on Thursday. He refused to comment on the issue.

The consignments were released from the port on Friday between 6:19pm and 6:25pm.

According to the Bepza server, Hashy Tiger does not have an import permission, while BHK's one expired a year ago, said customs intelligence officials.

"We received information from a source about four and a half hours after the consignments had been released from the port," Mobara Khanam, director general of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate, told The Daily Star.

The drivers' information was stored with the port and the vehicles were seized with the help of law enforcers, she said.

"It is clear that this is a syndicated crime. Such crimes cannot be organised without the involvement of related customs officials," she said.

"Verification of import permissions is mandatory alongside examination of at least 5 per cent of the goods by customs officers," she added.

Mohammad Fakhrul Alam, commissioner of Chattogram Custom House, said they would investigate how the goods were cleared by customs officials.

"Earlier, a gang got several consignments released using officers' IDs and passwords. We will form a probe committee to identify the perpetrators," he said.