Brahma breed cattle imported from USA seized at Dhaka airport

Customs officials seized 18 cows of Brahman breed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital on Monday midnight.

The cattle have been imported from the United States. The herd arrived at the airport on a Turkish Airlines flight on Monday afternoon.

Since the import of this breed is not allowed in the country and the importer was nowhere to be found, it has been confiscated, Sadiqur Rahman, deputy commissioner of Airport Custom House, told The Business Standard. 

Sadeeq Agro imported these cows, aged between 13-60 months, from Centurion World Logistics LLC Sulphur Springs in Texas, USA.

"As the breed is not allowed to be imported, at first we thought it was a shipment of misdeclaration. Later, we have found that they have mentioned the breed as 'Brahma' and no one has contacted us since Monday afternoon," he added. 

"We have found the imported price mentioned in the airlines' document is around $40,000 [around Tk34 lakh. But the Dhaka district livestock office claimed the price will be Tk12-15 lakh each," he added. 

The livestock office confirmed that the imported cows are of Brahma breed and it has huge demand in the market, Sadiq said.  

Dr Kazi Rafizquzzaman, a district livestock official, said the cows were of Brahma breed, which will now be temporarily kept in the Central Cow Breeding and Dairy Farm in Savar under the custody of the Department of Livestock.

Meanwhile, admitting to importing Brahma breed of cows, Imran Hossain, owner of Sadeeq Agro Limited, said, "We could not receive the cows because of problems with documents. The customs will hand over the cattle to us as soon as we submit proper documents."

When asked why no one on his behalf went to receive the cattle, Imran said, "It is wrong information. As soon as the cows reached the airport, four of us left to pick them up. The cows are now at Savar dairy and we have people there feeding the cattle."

Reportedly, the cows will be sold at auction if no claimant is found.

Earlier on 13 February, customs officials seized 30 Brahman breed cattle imported by Sun Dairy and Agro Products Limited despite announcing the import of Holstein-Friesian breed. 

When asked, Masudul Islam Jisan, managing director of the Sun Dairy, told TBS that they have got back the 30 cows after 25 days. 

"We went to the court and got back the cows after paying a fine of Tk35 lakh," Masudul said.