Customs officials face handset sellers’ wrath as they raid Bashundhara mall

A team of customs intelligence officials has faced traders’ wrath for seizing ‘illegally’ imported handsets at the Bashundhara City Shopping Mall in Dhaka.

The traders confined the officials for more than one and a half hours when the team, led by its Additional Director General Kazi Ziauddin, started a midday raid on one of the largest shopping malls in Bangladesh on Saturday.

The sudden drive angered the traders and forced them to block the Panthapath road in front of the shopping mall from 12pm to 3pm, according to the traders.

When the Rapid Action Battalion or RAB arrived on the scene to bring the situation under control, the traders exchanged angry words with the elite force.

Mufazzal Hossain Mamun, proprietor of RM Trading International, said: “The customs officials have taken away mobile phones worth millions of taka without any notice and they raided shops without informing the local police.”

Ujjal Hossain, owner of Usha Telecom, said: “They have taken away Tk 20 million worth of goods from five shops.  They have taken iPhones. During this time, they do not want to know about other mobile phones.”

Md Nazimuddin, an agitated trader, said, “If mobile phones are being sold illegally, they can take action against them. But before every Eid, the customs officials come here and harass the businessmen. They took the mobile phones and never returned.”

Ziauddin said: “We are raiding the Bashundhara market as per the law. The mobile phones will be returned after scrutinising the necessary documents.”

Later in the day, the customs officials held a meeting with the traders. After one and a half hours of discussion, the customs team emerged from the shopping mall around 5:30pm.

“We have promised the traders that the necessary measures will be taken after scrutinising the documents,” Customs Intelligence Director General Shahidul Islam told bdnews24.com.

He said zero tolerance policy has been adopted against those who are depriving the government of revenue by importing mobile handsets without paying tax. “Based on the necessary information, we have plans for more operations.”

According to him, a total of 262 iPhones worth over Tk 20 million have been seized and nine people have been detained for the alleged illegal sales of these handsets in the raids conducted in Uttara, Gulshan and Mohakhali.