Customs seizes large consignment of foreign liquor smuggled from China

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Chinese companies have been found to be involved in exporting prohibited items to Bangladesh through illegal means.

Recently, smuggling of huge quantities of foreign liquor from China has been unearthed in Chattogram.

The customs seized one large consignment of foreign liquors from Chittagong port on July 24 as the goods were imported under false declaration and through tax evasion.

The consignment of liquor was brought to Bangladesh under the declaration of yarn import from China by faking import permission and using the name of Dong Jin Industrial of Nilphamari’s Uttara Export Processing Zone, said Saiful Haque, deputy commissioner of Chittagong Customs House.

Earlier, the customs seized two large consignments of foreign liquors from Sonargaon and Narayanganj in the early hours of Saturday (July 23).

The goods were also imported through Chittagong port under false declaration and through tax evasion.

Chittagong Customs House seized two containers loaded with a huge stash of foreign liquors during a special drive. The seized goods were later brought back to the port city.

The consignments of liquor were released at the port under the declaration of textured yarn and machinery imports from China by faking import permission and using the names of Cumilla EPZ’s Hashy Tiger and Ishwardi EPZ’s BHK Textile, Saiful said.

As the shipments contained foreign liquor with high taxable value, importers evaded a big amount of tax, he added.

The importers had made a false declaration of importing ‘yarn of polyster’. Had the consignment managed to pass, the revenue loss for the Bangladesh government would have been around 60 to 70 crore Taka.

Earlier prohibited items were seized (May, 2022) by Bangladesh law enforcement agencies including 19 tonnes (788 packets) of Sodium Cyclamate (SC), concealed under the label of Soda Ash Light. The consignment had originated from CNTAO Qingdao Port, China and arrived in Chattogram.

HUBCoL, a leading Chinese brand mainly engaged in food additives and pharmaceutical materials, had supposedly declared to send a consignment of Soda Ash Light to one of its Dhaka based associates but the consignment turned out to contain SC, which is basically a type of a condensed sugar that is 30 to 50 times sweeter than the ordinary one. The consumption of SC increases the risk of contracting cancer.

These incidents are not isolated ones, rather they add to the long list of malpractices by Chinese companies indulging in tax evasion in Bangladesh.

In January 2022, a Chinese company Digi Anti Fake Company had reportedly supplied counterfeit bandrolls (a thin ribbon wrapped on bidi and cigarette packets) resulting in fraudulent tax evasion of BD Taka 250 crore for Bangladesh.

The company was also found involved in printing counterfeit Bangladeshi passports, ballot papers, national identity cards, birth registration certificates etc.

In December 2021, Bangladesh officials had detected involvement of China Road & Bridge Construction (CRBC) company, engaged in the construction of road and bridges in Bangladesh in tax evasion while importing construction material for government projects.

In another case of tax evasion, it was revealed that Tianye Outdoor (BD) Co Ltd (TOCL), a subsidiary of Chinese company Comefly Outdoor Co Ltd had allegedly indulged in tax evasion and fraud to the tune of about Taka 21 crore.