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Bashundhara City Raid

Traders gang up on customs officials

Staff Correspondent
Traders at the capital's Bashundhara City mall besieged a group of customs intelligence officials on its premises and the adjacent road for more than two hours after the officials seized some cell phones from their shops.
The customs officials said the handsets were brought to the country dodging duties while the traders alleged the raid was aimed at harassing them.
As the officials were besieged, people passing through the area and its surrounding places suffered a traffic nightmare. They remained stuck in tailbacks for hours.
It all started around noon when the customs officials, led by Additional Director General Kazi Md Ziauddin and aided by some Rab and Ansar members, began the raid on different shops at level 1 and 6 of the mall and seized about 100 iPhones worth around Tk 90 lakh.
“We carried out the raid acting on a tip-off. Those phones were bought from people coming from abroad and being sold at the market illegally,” Ziauddin said.
As the officials were leaving the mall along with the phones, around 500 shop owners and employees came out and started chanting slogans against the drive.
They tried to stop the vehicles with the customs officials in front of the shopping complex. However, a section of the officials managed to leave the place along with the phones.
The protesters besieged the vehicles, including that carrying Ziauddin. At one point, Rab members appeared at the scene and chased the agitators away.
Within moments, the shop owners and employees blocked one side of the street in front of the mall around 1:20pm. The vehicles again got stuck and were surrounded by the protesters, reported our correspondent from the scene.
Some of the protestors leaked a tire of the ADG's Pajero around 2:40pm while he was inside. Ziauddin requested the protesters to let them go, but the request fell on deaf ears.
During the incident, the officials and the protesters also shoved each other and exchanged heated arguments.
Then around 3:30pm, the protesters cleared the road. Half an hour later, Ziauddin along with some of the shop owners went inside the mall. He came out about an hour later. While leaving, he said his team seized 64 cell phones and would take action after verifying their documents.
'IT'S TO HARASS US'
The shop owners termed the raid “unethical” and alleged that it was aimed at harassing them before Eid.
“Before every Eid, they come and seize mobile phones but don't give us any seizure list. We did not get back the phones seized earlier,” said Younus, one of the shop owners.
A shop employee, wishing not to be named, however, said, “We buy some phones from people coming from abroad but we do that after verifying the IMEI numbers. They don't have any tax papers.”
An aggrieved shop owner asked, “Why don't they [the authorities] seize phones at the airport? Why they are harassing us now?"
During the raid, many shops brought empty box of iPhones, claiming those were kept at their shops only for "decoration".
"We buy cell phones from importers. We give warranty on those. Sometimes we buy cell phones from people coming from abroad. We sell those without any warranty," said another shop employee.
CUSTOMS' PRESS RELEASE
Meanwhile, in a press release, the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) yesterday said it raided different shops at Bashundhara City and other shopping centres in Mohakhali, Gulshan and Uttara in the capital.
During the raids, the CIID officials seized 275 illegally imported mobile phone sets, including 133 iPhones, 125 HTCs, 15 LGs and one apple watch, said the release, adding those handsets were brought into the country by dodging duties.
Nine people were held during the drives in Uttara and Mohakhali, itadded.
Asked about the allegation that customs officials did not give any seizure list to the traders, Shahidul Islam, director general of CIID, said it was not true.
"The seizure list is based on the IMEI numbers. If anyone has any complaints, they can produce relevant papers to us,” hetoldThe Daily Star last night.