NBR SRO soon giving BGB, police a role

National Board of Revenue (NBR) would soon issue statutory regulatory orders (SROs) allowing the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and the Bangladesh Police to carry out anti-smuggling drives and arrest the suspects in areas under its jurisdiction.
Officials said the law enforcing agencies will be able to launch drives within five miles of the land borders of Bangladesh, following the issuance of SROs.
The board has taken the decision due to the lack of capacity of its field level customs offices to check smuggling, they said.
It would soon issue two SROs as part of the process of amending the relevant section of the customs law and allowing the law enforcing agencies with adequate authorities for conducting the drives.
However, the BGB personnel and police forces will have to comply with certain conditions while exercising their authority within the custom's area of jurisdiction.
The customs wing proposed amendments to the customs law, following proposals by the customs intelligence and investigation directorate (CIID) of the NBR.
According to the proposed amendment, BGB personnel and police, however, will not be able to carry out anti-smuggling drives within the premises of customs houses, customs ports like air ports, land ports and sea ports, inland container depots and inland water container terminals.
In case of conducting drives within the five miles of custom's area of jurisdiction, they will have to coordinate with the taskforce. They will have to follow certain sections of the customs law to seize goods.
They will have to submit a report within 15 days of the drives to the customs commissioner concerned, explaining the details of the anti-smuggling activities.
Sources said the NBR had allowed the BGB in 1986 under the customs act but the move proved to be futile due to changes in the relevant sections of the law.
The SRO is required as legal complexities might arise if any one challenges the authority of carrying out anti-smuggling drive and arresting the suspected smugglers by the BGB and police, they said.
PRI chairman Dr Zaidi Sattar said the government will have to concentrate on modern risk-based system through automation to check under invoicing, used to evade duty.
"The root cause of smuggling has to be identified, including making rational the high-duty structure," he added.
He said that allowing the BGB and the police in the custom's domain to conduct anti-smuggling drives might not leave any significant impact on checking large-scale smuggling.
The large-scale smuggling through legal channel cannot be checked by authorising the BGB or the police, said Dr Sattar.
He said the recent initiative is unlikely to be very effective unless those key factors were addressed through risk-based monitoring.
Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, president of the Federation of Bangladesh chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) hailed the initiative, but suggested the authorities to make the checking system less cumbersome.
"There should not be any harassment. The products could be checked once at a single place, not at different stages," he added. "If two or three authorities check at different places, passengers may face hassles."
However, the smuggling of drugs and other contraband things could be checked through the joint initiatives, he added.

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