Doulot Akter Mala
The government has taken a move to bring the services of courier companies under a guideline aiming to check smuggling, which can apparently be carried out easily due to insufficient monitoring mechanism at the airports.
The customs department of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) recently issued a directive to strengthen the monitoring of the 20-courier service points inside the Dhaka customs house.
Of those, five belong to foreign courier companies that accounts for 80 per cent of such businesses in the country.
The board, last week in a meeting with the Dhaka customs house, gave directives to install a scanning machine especially designated for courier service products.
The customs department, in the meeting, expressed its concern over the unprotected entrance of courier service goods, which is gradually becoming a safe route for smuggling.
The NBR is also planning to involve the clearing and forwarding (C&F) agents with the shipment procedures of courier service products.
It is very tough to ascertain the nature of products that arrive in the country through courier service with the existing x-ray machine because of odd package sizes, sources said.
Presently the service is operating from a small space inside the airport. The customs department will allocate adequate space in Dhaka airport for properly checking the products.
Courier service providers do not fall under the purview of any ministry nor are they covered under any government policy, a source said.
He said most of the gift items are not scanned, and many illegal products are being transported via these services unknowingly.
On the other hand courier service clients fear that misuse of personal address in transporting illegal products can get innocent people in trouble.
Move under way to streamline courier service operations
FE Team | Published: September 29, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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