Customs authorities have seized various types of garments imported from India worth crores of rupees while carrying them. These products were seized while being loaded onto trucks at Benapole port.
These include saree, three-back, pant cloth, burkha, sofa cloth. No documents were found for these imported products. It is believed that an attempt was being made to evade duty of several crore rupees through this.
The shipment from India was unloaded at 10 am on Monday with the assistance of Abdul Matin, shed in-charge of port number 17. Then around 12 noon the goods were seized by Customs while loading them into a covered van.
According to sources concerned, a consignment of high-quality sarees, three-backs, pant cloths, burkhas and sofa cloths were picked up in a covered van. At that time, based on secret information, the customs authorities seized the product. However, the land port and customs authorities could not show any documents in favor of the goods.
Matin, in charge of shed number 17 of the port, said, “I don’t know who this product belongs to.” I can’t even tell you how it got into my shed.
If he has the key to the shed, then how did the illegal goods enter the port after all the formalities, he said, “I have an NGO worker named Trang here.” He loaded and unloaded the goods in the shed with the help of a borderman named Abdullah from a C&F agency named Mian in my absence.
Customs evasion attempt, goods worth crores of rupees seized
However, the Benapole C&F Agents Association and the cargo wing of the port said there is no C&F agent by that name and no borderman named Abdullah.
Some local traders said that for a long time, a gang has been bringing Indian goods through fake documents to evade revenue. Although they do not have any C&F agent license, they work by renting the license of some of Benapole.
A customs officer, who did not wish to be named, said that it is not possible to say how many products there are without checking on the spot. By testing, it will be known on Tuesday how many products and how much revenue can come.
He said that no documents were found for these imported products and no one claimed the products. The matter is being investigated.