70 luxury cars brought under carnet facility plying on street changing colour

At least 70 large cars imported under Carnet de passage facility from different countries of the world are moving on the roads of the country after changing colour.

The customs authorities have no information about the whereabouts of these cars as they were released without duty.

The Chattogram Customs authorities have sought the help of various law enforcement agencies including the police to recover the vehicles. But these vehicles have not been recovered yet. Efforts are underway by law enforcement officials, including customs investigators, to recover the vehicles.

Chattogram Customs House Commissioner Mohammad Fakhrul Alam said this at a press briefing at his office in the port city on Thursday.

The press briefing was organised on the occasion of online auction of 110 luxury cars brought with Carnet facility. These cars will be sold at auction on 3-4 November.

Fakhrul Alam said some Bangladeshi nationals who have foreign citizenship brought these cars of different brands including BMW, Mercedes Benz, Land Cruiser, Land Rover, Jaguar and Lexus to Bangladesh under Carnet de Passage facility in 2011 and 2012. They were allowed to bring the cars on the condition that they would use the cars for six months in Bangladesh as tourists. The cars were supposed to be taken back when they left Bangladesh. The cars were unloaded from Chattogram Port with a pledge in this regard.

 "But, later it was found that most of them did not take back the cars. They sold the cars in the local market. The government then imposed a condition of unloading the cars with a bank guarantee for the duty. After the condition was imposed, the importers did not unload the cars. Most of them did not respond even after notice was served. Some cars were recovered from various homes by the Customs Detective and Investigation Directorate. As a result, these luxury cars have been left at Chattogram Port for the last 8-9 years," he added.

According to customs sources, tenders and catalogs can be collected on October 24 for the online auction. Auctioneers will have to inspect the vehicles at Chattogram Port on 27, 28, 31 October and 2 November. Besides online, tenders can be submitted at tender boxes in Chattogram Customs House, Chattogram Deputy Commissioner's office, Mongla Customs House, Customs Excise and VAT Commissionerate of Dhaka and Sylhet.