Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) yesterday detained a man allegedly involved in releasing 22 consignments from Chattogram port through user IDs of two former officials of Chattogram Customs House (CCH).

Jahidul Islam, owner of an IT firm, was held from Chattogram customs area, said Shahidul Islam, director general of CIID.

"Jahidul is one of the prime accused who accessed the customs server using IDs of two former customs officials. Being an expert in technology, Jahidul helped seven clearing and forwarding (C&F) agents to log into National Board of Revenue's (NBR) Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA) server 3,777 times on several occasions, and managed to get the 22 consignments freed without physical examination."

'The consignments were brought to Bangladesh between May and December last year by 14 importers and facilitated by seven C&F agents. They were taken out of the port between September and December last year," Shahidul told The Daily Star.

Customs sources said The CIID had information that the import consignments contained falsely declared items, so it had requested the CCH to release the goods only after thorough physical examinations.

The Central Intelligence Cell of NBR had also made the same request to the customs house. A case was filed in January with Ramna Police Station regarding the release of the consignments. CIID arrested Mizanur Rahman, owner of M/S MR Trade International and Chakladar Service from the capital's Kakrail area right after filing of the case.