Indian Rupees in container at Ctg Port

A large amount of Indian currency notes have been found in a container at Chittagong Sea Port. The Indian currency notes were found in the container that arrived from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and was marked as loaded with home appliances. Customs officials found the currency notes in four boxes of the container on Sunday and suspect that they might be fake. The container arrived in a ship from the UAE’s Fujairah port. “We suspect that the other boxes in the container also have Indian Rupees,” Chittagong Customs Assistant Commissioner Mukitul Hasan has said.
National Board of Revenue chief Md Najibur Rahman and Customs Intelligence chief Moynul Khan went to Chittagong Sunday night after the haul.
“The container, which was inspected, has 165 cartons. According to intelligence information, there were contraband items in those,” NBR Chairman Rahman told reporters. He said the importers declared that the container was carrying ‘home appliances’One Md Shahiduzzaman, who hails from Chittagong’s Hathajari and lives in Dubai, has sent the container.
Customs Intelligence chief Moynul Khan told reporters that he suspects these currencies were destined for somewhere else, using Bangladesh as a ‘transit’.
“Most of the Indian currencies seized in Bangladesh were fake and that might be the case with these as well.”
He said that two more containers will be inspected on Monday.
Indian revenue intelligence has long alleged that Pakistani agencies were involved in huge production of fake Indian currency notes in the Middle East, which were then shipped back to South Asia for entry into India.
During the last years, India says it has received much cooperation from Bangladesh and Nepal in busting these Pakistan-inspired fake currency rackets that Delhi sees as part of Islamabad's 'covert economic warfare' to undermine India's national economy, according to a news agency.
- biplab