‘Illegal courier service’ in guise of factory machinery import
Bearing telltale signals of an illegitimate courier service, some 70 tonnes of personal products and contraband things were seized by Chattogram Customs House on Sunday to be imported under a fake declaration to be factory machinery, seemingly to evade duty.
The goods attained the Chattogram slot from Southern 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 explained it to be eight sets of previous power looms worth $20,000.
But thorough inspections predicated on a tip-off revealed electrical items such as aged circuit breakers, cosmetics and home goods hidden out of view in the back of the containers, said options in the port.
For export-oriented factories, importing power looms bear only one 1 per cent tax of the price price. For cosmetics, it sums to anything from 89 per cent to 131 per cent. Import of previous circuit breakers is prohibited for the hazards they pose, according to customs.
The sources said there have been at least 35 packages with writings on the outside in Bangla and English apparently denoting the receivers' name, location and cellular number.
The addresses were generally in Narayanganj, Sylhet, Brahmanbaria and Noakhali.
The Daily Superstar contacted among the recipients, one Parvej Mia in Brahmanbaria.
"My brother Ashraf is supposed to send some goods from South Korea. Nevertheless, I do not understand how it had been sent," said the individual at the various other end of the call.
"My buddy sent us some outfits and household goods several times and in addition pays the courier expense and customs duty for sending these merchandise. But I have no idea if it comes through ports or airports," stated the receiver.
Another receiver, "Shah Jahan" in "Sylhet", said to haven't any knowledge about it.
His son Alam, the sender, later made contact. He thought to have paid out a Bangladeshi expatriate in South Korean Tk 1 lakh to provide his goods.
"If the products were dispatched through cargo flight or foreign postoffice, it could have cost me personally around Tk 2 lakh, including taxes," he said.
"I sent the goods in containers to lessen my cost. I have sent products often previous through the seaport but there was no issue," he frankly admitted.
He claimed never to know that this was illegal.
Rezaul Karim, an assistant commissioner of the customs property, told The Daily Star that the discovery was first made last Thursday.
Asked whether any illegal courier service was at perform, he said, "We will look into how and for what purpose the products came here."
He likewise said legal steps had been taken against those involved, including the importer.
Who owns Sohel Textile Mills, Subuj Hossain, and proprietor of Mollika Traders didn't respond to repeated calls of this correspondent.
