Customs foils attempt of Tk5cr duty evasion with false declaration

Chattogram Customs House has foiled an attempt to evade a Tk5-crore import duty by bringing a good number of locks, and pencil batteries under a false declaration of bringing calcium carbonate.

"The products which were imported by Hans Trade International, an importer of Dhaka's Keraniganj, from China reached Chattogram port on 5 May. Then, the customs house blocked the consignment in its software as out-of-declaration products remain there," said Deputy Commissioner Saiful Haque, Chattogram Customs House Audit Investigation and Research (AIR) unit.

The Deputy Commissioner (Customs) added that during a physical examination of the three containers, the customs authority found 17 lakh pieces of pencil batteries and 18 tonnes of locks hidden inside layers of calcium carbonate.

C&F Agent Shamim Enterprise, on behalf of the importer, submitted a bill of entry to take a release of the imports.

Chattogram Customs House, in a press release issued on Tuesday, alleged that the importer tried to evade Tk5 crore duty by bringing locks, and pencil batteries under a false declaration. The process is underway to file duty evasion and money laundering cases against the importer.

When queried, C&F agent Shamim Enterprise Managing Partner KM Anisur Rahman said "We are unaware whether there were any non-declared goods in the consignment. However, the importer told us that those goods may be mistakenly added to the shipment."

In reply to a query, he denied any collaboration between them to evade import duty. He, however, refused to provide the importer's phone number to this correspondent.