Cigarettes worth Tk 40 lakh with forged stamps confiscated

Customs, Excise and VAT Commissionerate in Sylhet filed two cases with Kotwali Police Station on Sunday, after seizing cigarettes worth Tk 39.91 lakh with forged stamps.

Seven persons were accused in the first case, while two in the other.

As per the 2019 circulation of National Board of Revenue (NBR), to collect revenue from domestically produced or imported cigarettes, stamps and band rolls must be glued to packs to ensure payment of VAT and supplementary duty (SD).

Hossain Ahmed, commissioner of the commissionerate, said, "On information, we seized cigarettes with forged stamps, being used to evade VAT and SD."

According to case statement, a preventive team of the commissionerate seized 5,000 packs of Derby cigarettes and 4,000 packs of Purabi cigarettes from SA Paribahan at Naiorpur area of the city on August 8.

The other case is filed in connection with the seizure of 49,500 packs of Partner cigarettes with forged stamps from AJR Transport Agency on June 29 last year.

After detecting that the stamps are forged, the commissionerate forwarded samples to The Security Printing Corporation which confirmed the matter.

OC Selim Miah of Kotwali Police Station said, "The cases are being investigated."