Company attempts to evade customs duty by flouting bonded warehouse rules

A Chattogram-based company allegedly tried to evade around Tk1.71 crore in customs duties and taxes by declaring old ship parts as copper scrap imported under the bonded warehouse facility.
Nialco Alloys Ltd, based in Sitakunda, imported expensive copper scrap under a duty-free facili-ty, but attempted to export old ship propellers, according to a Chattogram Customs House, ICD press release issued on Saturday.
The customs authorities said the company had declared a shipment of “sorted copper” for ex-port to Japan. It filed the export bill on 3 November, declaring the consignment's value at $326,560.
Acting on a tip-off, customs officials raided the Golden Container Ltd off-dock at around 9:45pm on 12 November.
The container was opened and examined in full in the presence of the C&F agent and depot officials. During the inspection, officials found 10 large and discarded ship propellers collected locally instead of the declared copper scrap.
Sources said the company had imported copper and alloy scrap under the bonded warehouse facility on 29 September and obtained permission to use the materials on 17 October.
Under the bonded warehouse system, duty-free imported raw materials must be used to manu-facture products for export. However, the company allegedly did not follow the rules.
Sitakunda is the country's main shipbreaking hub. The company allegedly bought old ship pro-pellers cheaply from the local market and attempted to export them instead of the imported copper.
Customs authorities said they were taking a firm stance against the misuse of bonded ware-house facilities and revenue evasion.
The department has already started preparing its final investigation report and will soon file a case over the attempted revenue evasion against those involved, the press release said.