The Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation has launched an operation to trace over 100 luxury vehicles involved in massive tax evasion through forgery and fraud.
These vehicles were cleared through Chittagong and Mongla ports and later moved to various locations.
As part of its initiative, the directorate has already seized two vehicles, with tax evasion exceeding Tk20 crore.
Minhaz Uddin, its additional director general, told this correspondent that the directorate was tracking down over 100 vehicles that had been cleared evading a significant sum in taxes.
“These cars were somehow cleared from Chittagong and Mongla ports. These usually change hands multiple times, and retrieving the necessary documents for these vehicles takes time. Additionally, vehicles have to undergo various verifications at the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), which also adds to the time required for seizure."
In response to a query, he said the buyers of such vehicles typically belonged to affluent families, adding that they often managed to obtain forged documents for the cars and even alter the vehicles’ cylinder capacity.
“In some cases, when we visit the reported location of a car, it is no longer there. Moreover, these vehicles cannot be seized without thorough documentation, making the process time-consuming," Minhaz explained.
Despite these challenges, he said the directorate’s operations were ongoing as it had completed significant verifications of the documents at hand, adding that it was just a matter of locating and seizing the vehicles.
The official said the directorate expected to confiscate more vehicles soon.
On Monday night, customs officials seized a luxury Nissan Patrol Safari from the garage of house No 42 in Chittagong's Khulshi area.
The vehicle was found to have been imported with false declarations and tax evasion.
Officials said no bill of entry had been submitted for the engine and chassis numbers of the car.
Additionally, the BRTA was unable to provide any import-related documents or information regarding the car's registration, despite being asked.
This confirmed that the vehicle had been imported without paying the required taxes, violating sections 2(24), 18, 33, 81 and 90 of the Customs Act.
According to customs officials, the total import tax rate for the vehicle was 827%, with an estimated evaded tax amounting to Tk10 crore.
Earlier, on November 13, another luxury car – a BMW 7 Series – was seized from Tejgaon, Dhaka.
Sources said the car had been cleared through Chittagong Customs House using falsified documents and false declarations, evading a significant amount of taxes.
This also violated sections 18, 33, 90 and 126 of the Customs Act and is considered smuggling under section 2(24) of the act.
Officials noted that the BMW car also involved massive tax evasion. They suspect that the overall tax evasion across all these vehicles could amount to several hundred crores.
