Alcohol-laden ship seized at Chattogram port
The consignment is the largest one after 16,170 bottles of wine and beer worth about Tk134 crore were seized in March 2017.
Customs officials of Chattogram Port on Wednesday seized a ship filled with illegally imported alcohol, mainly whisky and beer, although consignment had been declared as capital machinery.
On a tip-off, a team of Chittagong Port Customs raided the ship Qi Xia Shan and found alcoholic beverages.
A construction company named Bangladesh-China Power Company (Pvt) Ltd has been importing capital machinery for Payra Port over the last three years.
Sadhon Kumar Chandra, joint commissioner of the Customs House, who is investigating the matter, said a total of 669 cartons weighing 1,406 tonne have been seized.
Earlier, Clearing and Forwarding agent Bipasha International unloaded some goods with two lighter vessels after the ship had reached the port on July 9 and anchored at Deck-3 on July 18.
The port authorities have been asked to return the unloaded goods, said Sadhon Kumar.
According to Bangladesh import tariff law, capital machinery has just 1 percent import duty on them while alcohol and beer have 396 and 293-448 percent tariffs respectively.
The consignment is the largest one after 16,170 bottles of wine and beer worth about Tk134 crore were seized in March 2017.