Backstreet sales: 11 arrested for breaching bonded warehousing rules

Police have arrested 11 people for selling cloth in the open market after importing products through bonded warehousing, a tax-free facility provided by the government to export-oriented industries.

The detainees have been identified as Shahadat Hossain, Saiful Islam Jibon, Rubel Akon, Md Masum, Monir Hossain, Robin aka Hridoy Sardar, Shahin Hawladar, Arif Hossain, Sohag Faraji, Md Nazim and Kamal Hossain.

They were arrested from New Market and Tejgaon areas on Saturday, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police said at a news conference, reports bdnews24.com.

A team of detectives from the Lalbagh Division made the arrests, said AKM Hafiz Akhtar, an additional commissioner of police with the DMP detective branch.

The detainees brought in the clothing from overseas using their bonded warehousing facility and went for open-market sales for quicker and bigger profits, according to the police.

These black-market sales are harming real local traders and manufacturers and are also depriving the government of millions in taxes, he said.

The detainees had 508 rolls of curtain cloth, with an estimated market value of Tk 12.7 million, Hafiz said.

Law enforcers have also seized six covered vans belonging to the detainees, he added.

Police are working to apprehend a ring involved in such activities operating out of Dhaka’s Islampur, he said.

A case has been filed at the New Market Police Station over the incident.