Own Correspondent: Chittagong Port Customs seized a large consignment of imported Indian sarees and lehengas in containers declared as soda ash to evade huge revenue. On Tuesday (April 11) at noon, the customs authority reported the seizure of a 40-foot-long container shipment.
Earlier yesterday (Monday), Customs confirmed that sarees and lehengas were present in the container instead of soda ash. A company named Aziz Enterprises of Sadar police station in Feni district imported this consignment.
Chittagong Port Customs AIR Branch Deputy Commissioner Md. Confirming the truth, Saiful Haque said that Customs has learned from secret sources that a container declared as soda ash contains a large quantity of Indian sarees and lehengas. On Monday, the container was forcibly kept down, and a 100% manual check was carried out by the Audit Investigation and Research (AIR) wing of the customs house. 12,550 pieces of Banarasi sarees, 1139 pieces of Georgette sarees, 403 pieces of lehengas, etc. are available instead of the declared products. The taxable value of that is Tk 1 crore 11 lakh. Due to the high duty rate on such products, the revenue involved is about Tk 1 crore 41 lakh.
According to customs sources, due to the high demand for Indian sarees and lehengas during Eid-ul-Fitr, the challan was brought under false declaration for the purpose of evading customs duties. The importer declares low-duty soda ash in this shipment. A large amount of foreign currency is believed to be laundered by importing high-duty sarees and lehengas.
In this regard, Commissioner of Customs House Chittagong Mohammad Faizur Rahman has ordered to take action against the importing company in accordance with the Customs Act 1969 and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2012 on the charges of false declaration and revenue evasion.
