A joint team of the Manikganj District Detective Branch (DB) police and Customs, Excise and VAT Division has seized 370,000 cigarettes and 13,000 unused stamp banderols suspected to be counterfeit from a tobacco factory in Shibaloy upazila of Manikganj district.
The seizure was made during a raid on Beauty Tobacco Company on Aug 11 following a tip-off, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) said in a press release on Wednesday.
Samples of the seized cigarettes and banderols were sent to the Security Printing Corporation (Bangladesh) Ltd in Gazipur on Aug 12 for verification.
In a report issued on Aug 23, the Security Printing Corporation confirmed that the stamp banderols attached to the Dollar-brand cigarettes and the 13,000 unused banderols were counterfeit.
The NBR said the amount of customs duties and taxes involved in the use of the counterfeit banderols was approximately Tk 11.32 lakh.
A criminal case was filed against Beauty Tobacco Company at Shibaloy Police Station on Wednesday on charges of evading duties and taxes by storing and using counterfeit and illegal banderols.
Following the action, production at the establishment was suspended and the factory was sealed, according to the NBR.