TDS Desk:

Customs authority in Chattogram has seized a container of 50 lakh cigarette sticks which had been imported after declaring the shipment as “water purifier”.

Hamco Corporation Limited of Dhaka Jatrabari’s Shyampur commercial area imported the container full of cigarettes of the brand “Mond” after declaring it as 300 packages of water filters weighing 5 tonnes bought from Asian Global Company Limited in Bangkok.

The Chattogram Custom House seized the shipment from the port’s yard on Thursday night, confirmed Deputy Commissioner of the Audit and Investigation department of Chittagong Customs House, Khairul Bashar.

He said that to evade tax, a syndicate was illegally importing cigarettes from abroad amid a disruption of foreign cigarette production at the local level. The importer opened a letter of credit (LC) at City Bank, Gulshan Avenue, Dhaka, for importing the shipment, he added.

The Singapore-flagged ship MV Kota Anggun arrived at Jetty No. 10 of General Cargo Berth of Chittagong Port with the shipment yesterday at 3pm.

Based on a tip-off, customs officials went there to physically check the shipment and found 2,500 cartons of cigarettes instead of any water filter.

According to Chittagong Custom House, the process of determining how much revenue has been evaded in this shipment is underway. Besides, preparations are being made to take legal action against the importer and those involved in this shipment under the Customs Act.