The Chittagong Customs House has seized one more consignment of illegal liquor from Chittagong port just one day after seizing two liquor consignments from Narayanganj.

Clearing and Forwarding (C&F) company Zafar Ahmed, which was in charge of clearing the consignment on behalf of Dong Jin Industrial (BD) Company Ltd, tried to clear the consignment by submitting a false import permit, said Md Saiful Haque, deputy commissioner, Customs Audit Investigation and Research, Chattogram Customs.

Customs sources said the consignment arrived at the port on 16 July from the Ningbo port in China. Zafar Ahmed submitted a bill of entry on 20 July for releasing the consignment with a declaration of "textured yarn of polyester 100% recycled post".

On Saturday, the customs seized two consignments of liquor from Narayanganj. And, the same C&F agent, Zafar Ahmed was in charge of releasing the consignments.

Sources said Zafar Ahmed is engaged in the clearance of goods in Chattogram on a regular basis. The company has cleared goods of many compliant companies. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the agent brought liquor consignments using the names of various export-oriented companies.

Customs authorities will investigate the consignments released so far in the name of Zafar Ahmad to determine whether anyone else is involved in this cycle as the custom believes that organised gangs are involved in this incident.

Several attempts were made on Saturday and Sunday to contact Zafar Ahmed, the proprietor of the C&F agent, but his phone could not be connected.

Meanwhile, in the case of the consignments seized in Narayanganj, a six-member probe committee has been formed with Chittagong Custom House Additional Commissioner-1 Abu Noor Rashed as the convener.

During the preliminary investigation, the customs found out that the user ID and password of Nasir Uddin, revenue officer of the EPZ branch of Chittagong Customs House, were used for customs clearance, using a computer outside the customs house.

To encourage the export-oriented industry, the government gives duty-free facilities to the import of raw materials for this industry. And using this facility, some are importing alcohol by creating fake documents in the name of various export-oriented industries, said customs sources.

The Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority (Bepza) on Sunday sent an explanation after the news of seizing two consignments of liquor in Narayanganj was published in the media.

The letter, signed by Bepza Executive Director (Public Relations) Nazma Binte Alamgir, mentioned that a criminal syndicate has used the names of Hashy Tiger Company Ltd in Cumilla EPZ and BHK Textile Mills Ltd in Iswardi in importing alcohol through forged import documents.

It also reads that Hashi Tiger Ltd is a toy manufacturer but in the fake LC the criminal syndicate mentioned Textured Yarn of Polyester which is not on the import list of the company. Besides, the LC against which alcohol was imported was fake too as no such import LC with the said number was issued by the Cumilla EPZ authorities.

On the other hand, the LC number in favour of BHK Textile Ltd which was used to import alcohol was issued on 18 May 2021. On 13 June that year, Roving Machine Bobbin entered the EPZ. It is against the rule of the Bepza and the customs to use the same LC in importing goods for the second time after one year, the statement said.

The statement also said the syndicate has tarnished the image of those EPZs and the Bepza as a whole by using the names of the companies and publishing such news is harmful to ensuring an environment-friendly environment in the country.

Similar incidents in the past

This is not the first time that liquor has been imported through Chittagong port.

On 23 February 2021, Chittagong Customs seized various brands of liquor from a private car with a Chittagong port sticker while those were being delivered to an autorickshaw.

On 1 June 2021, the customs seized a consignment of 42 tonnes of poppy seeds, used to produce opium, imported with the announcement of mustard seed import from Malaysia by Azmin Trade Centre. In this incident, the importer tried to smuggle Tk14.78 crore abroad.

In August 2019, liquor and beer imported under a declaration for capital machinery for the Payra Thermal Power Plant were seized at Chattogram.

On 6 June 2015, Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate seized 370 litres of liquid cocaine in a shipment declared as sunflower oil at Chittagong port. Its price was about Tk9,000 crores.

In March 2017, a trader imported foreign liquor, cigarettes and undeclared TVs on false declaration of import of capital equipment for poultry feed. The market value of this was almost Tk100 crores.

On April 17, 2012, 1,486 cartons of liquor including whiskey, brandy, vodka and gin, and 70 cartons of cigarettes were imported in two 40-foot containers, worth around Tk9 crore.

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