The Chattogram Customs House has seized a consignment of Indian clothes, including sarees and lehengas, imported under the false declaration of soda ash light.
Aziz Enterprise in Feni Sadar upazila imported the consignment of clothes from Kolkata.
The Audit, Investigation and Research (AIR) wing of the Custom House checked the container on Monday and found clothes, including 12,550 pieces of Banarasi saree, 1,139 pieces of Georgette saree, and 403 pieces of lehenga.
The market value of the products is estimated Tk 1.11 crore, while its revenue is Tk 1.41 crore due to the high duty on such products, Chattogram Customs Deputy Commissioner (AIR wing) Md Saiful Haque told The Business Post on Tuesday.
He said the consignment was brought to make more profits through duty evasion as demand for Indian sarees and lehengas is high during the Eid-ul-Fitr.
“It seems that a large amount of foreign currency has been laundered by importing high-duty sarees and lehengas instead of the low-duty soda ash consignment.”
Chattogram Customs Commissioner Mohammad Fyzur Rahman instructed the officials concerned to take action against the importer for false declaration and revenue evasion under the Customs Act, 1969 and the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012, Saiful added.
