Fake cigarette stamps worth Tk 46 crore in revenue found hidden behind printing machine import

A container brought in under a declaration of importing a printing machine has been found to contain a huge quantity of cosmetics and 4,080,000 fake cigarette stamps. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) said the seizure foiled an attempt to evade about Tk 46 crore in revenue.

The information was given in a press release issued by the NBR on Sunday. According to the release, the consignment was detected in a joint operation by the NBR Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) and the AIR branch of Chattogram Custom House.

The consignment was imported by a firm named China Mart, located at Level-3, Block-A of Jamuna Future Park in Dhaka. The consignment, which arrived at Chattogram port on August 9, had declared the goods as a printing machine.

On November 5, officials of the CIC and the AIR branch of Chattogram Custom House examined the consignment in detail. Instead of the declared printing machine, they found a large quantity of cosmetics and fake cigarette stamps. No printing machine was found in the container.

The examination recovered 4,080,000 fake cigarette stamps. The stamps were suitable for use on packets of low-grade cigarettes containing 20 sticks. The fixed retail price of such a packet in the country is Tk 130, against which the government receives Tk 106.60 in revenue.

According to the NBR, had the recovered fake stamps been used to produce and market cigarettes illegally, the government would have lost about Tk 43.50 crore in revenue. In addition, revenue evasion of about Tk 2.50 crore has been initially assessed on the cosmetics found in the container.

In total, the potential revenue loss and evasion amounts to about Tk 46 crore, the NBR said.

The release said that illegal production and marketing of cigarettes using fake stamps deprives the government of huge revenue. At the same time, legitimate tobacco product manufacturers and marketers face unfair competition.

The NBR said the process of taking legal action against those involved in the incident is under way.

The agency also said intelligence surveillance will continue to prevent false declarations of goods, duty and tax evasion, and the marketing of illegal products in import-export trade.