Tk 20.4m worth of smuggled goods seized at Dhaka airport

The Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) has seized imported foreign cigarettes, gold jewellery, banned Gouri cream and foreign liquor with an estimated duty-paid value of Tk 20.4 million during a special anti-smuggling operation at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
Acting on a tip-off, officials from the CIID's Airport A-Shift unit conducted the operation on Thursday, according to a National Board of Revenue (NBR) press release issued on Friday.
During surveillance of baggage collection for Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight BG-148 from Dubai, customs officials identified three unclaimed suspicious bags on baggage belt No. 1. A search of the bags led to the recovery of 370 cartons of Mond-brand foreign cigarettes.
Officials also seized an additional 111 cartons of foreign cigarettes from passengers arriving on other international flights, bringing the total haul to 481 cartons.
The cigarettes have an estimated market value of Tk 2.16 million. However, their duty-paid value rises to approximately Tk 15.6 million after the inclusion of applicable duties and taxes, reflecting a total tax incidence (TTI) of 621 per cent.
In a separate seizure, customs officials recovered 99 grams of gold jewellery concealed inside the handbag of a passenger, Md Tajul Islam, who arrived on the same flight from Dubai.
The seized gold ornaments have an estimated duty-paid value of approximately Tk 3.0 million.
The operation also led to the seizure of 12 kilograms of banned Gouri cream, valued at an estimated Tk 240,000.
In addition, customs officials confiscated 11 litres of foreign liquor, including whisky of various brands, from passengers arriving from Kolkata. The liquor has an estimated market value of Tk 220,000, while its duty-paid value is estimated at approximately Tk 1.56 million.

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