Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) and National Board of Revenue (NBR) seized goods worth Tk1.13 crore in two days, uncovering an alleged smuggling route using air, postal and rail networks.
The seizures were made on 13 and 14 October at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and the Foreign Post Office at Kamalapur Railway Station.
The goods included foreign cigarettes, prohibited skin-lightening creams, cosmetics, medicines, gold jewellery, laptops, mobile phones and alcoholic beverages.
According to NBR, the two-day operation recovered 531 cartons of foreign cigarettes, 64.18kg of prohibited skin-lightening creams, 68kg of other cosmetics, 55.8kg of medicines, 100g of gold jewellery, 32 laptops, three mobile phones and 17 litres of alcoholic beverages. Officials also seized 7,787 units of Gauri cream at Kamalapur.
CIID said the goods had allegedly been brought into Bangladesh by air and were to be transported to the Chattogram General Post Office through the airport’s mail-sorting centre and the Railway Mail Service centre in Kamalapur.
The agency said the operation aimed to prevent customs duty evasion and the illegal movement of medicines, including temperature-sensitive products transported without proper storage facilities, which could pose public health risks.
