The Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the AIR branch of Chattogram Custom House have seized a large quantity of cosmetics and fake cigarette stamps from an import container declared as holding a printing machine.
A joint operation on a consignment under special watch found 4,080,000 fake cigarette stamps. No printing machine, as declared, was found. The operation foiled an attempt to evade about Tk 46 crore in revenue.
The NBR gave the details in a press release on Sunday.
According to the NBR, the consignment was imported in the name of a firm called China Mart, at Shop 3C004A, Block A, Level 3, Jamuna Future Park, Dhaka. It reached Chattogram port on 9 August 2026, declared as a “printing machine”. On 5 November, officials of the CIC and the custom house’s AIR branch examined it in detail and found large amounts of cosmetics and fake cigarette stamps instead of the declared goods.
The fake stamps were made mainly for packs of 20 low-tier cigarettes. A pack of 20 low-tier cigarettes has a set retail price of Tk 130, of which Tk 106.60 is due to the government in revenue. On that basis, had the stamps been used to make and sell cigarettes illegally, the government stood to lose an estimated Tk 43.5 crore.
The release said revenue evasion of about Tk 2.5 crore on the cosmetics in the consignment had been assessed initially. Taken together, the possible loss from illegal cigarettes made with the fake stamps and the evasion on the cosmetics put about Tk 46 crore of revenue at risk.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report