Undeclared Goods Hidden Behind Flavour Shipment at Benapole, Tk 55 Lakh Revenue Evasion Alleged

An attempt to clear a large quantity of undeclared goods hidden behind a falsely declared shipment has been uncovered at Benapole land port. Customs authorities say the consignment involved revenue evasion of around Tk 55 lakh.

Customs sources said on Tuesday (20 October) that the goods were seized along with a covered van in front of Shed No. 14 of the port on Sunday night (18 October). The IRM, the intelligence wing of Benapole Customs House, carried out the raid acting on a tip-off.

Dhaka-based importer Messrs Red Green International had imported 500 kg of butter flavour from India in 25 packages. The consignment's clearance was handled by Benapole C&F agent Messrs Ahad Enterprise.

After an initial physical examination matched the goods with the declaration, assessment was completed in line with the examination report. Later, however, customs received secret information that extra goods were being cleared along with the declared flavour.

During the raid, covered van Dhaka Metro-Ta-13-6541 was detained. In the presence of the C&F agent, the driver and port workers, the van's lock was opened to reveal a total of 67 packages of assorted goods.

The list of seized goods is long: 500 kg of flavour in 25 plastic jars, 194,000 pieces of disposable syringes in 25 cartons, 110.77 kg of imitation products in two cartons, and 200 kg of powder in eight drums.

Five more cartons contained 303 saris, 14 ornas, 10 kamizes, 9 salwars, 38 three-pieces, 179 T-shirts and 122 pants. The only declared item was the flavour — everything else was undeclared.

Customs sources added that the undeclared goods had earlier been loaded onto the covered van from Shed No. 12 of the port, suggesting a shed-switching tactic was used to move the goods.

Customs authorities claim the licence of Messrs Ahad Enterprise has been permanently cancelled over allegations of long-running involvement in revenue evasion through a syndicate.

Benapole Customs House Commissioner Faizur Rahman said the covered van was detained with undeclared goods alongside the declared flavour in a raid based on secret information. 'Information of revenue evasion of around Tk 55 lakh has been found in this consignment,' he said.

Benapole is one of the country's main land ports, handling a large share of overland trade with India. Attempts to clear goods on false declarations at such a port harm both government revenue and legitimate traders.

Attention will now be on what legal steps follow against those involved and whether the remaining members of the syndicate can be identified.