Benapole
Man held with 30 gold bars in Benapole
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on Saturday claimed to have detained a man with 30 gold bars worth over Tk 2.53 crore at Benapole border in Sharsha upazila of Jashore district.
The detainee has been identified as Asiqur Rahman, 36, son of Abdur Razzak of Balunda village in Benapole.
Tipped off, a team of BGB-21 conducted a drive in the Goga area and detained Ashiqur with the gold bars while he was about to sneak into India in the afternoon, said commanding officer of BGB-21, Lieutenant Colonel Tanvir Ahmed.
Also read: 2 held with 10 gold bars in Jashore
The market value of the seized gold bars is Tk 2.53 crore. "He has been handed over to Sharsha police," the commanding officer said.
Also read: Jashore: 'Gold smuggler' killed in clash with cops, 2 others held
Man detained with huge amount of foreign currency at Benapole checkpost
Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) detained a Bangladeshi passport-holder with a huge amount of foreign currencies of US, Saudi Arabia and Canada at Benapole International Checkpost Terminal in Jashore district on Saturday noon.
The detainee has been identified as Md Ashiq Mia, son of Nurul Hoque of Masterkandi village in Shariatpur district.
Minhaj Siddque, Lieutenant Colonel of BGB-49, said on information they conducted a drive in the terminal area and detained him due to his suspicious movements.
Read: Woman held with 30,000 USD in Benapole
Later, $22,300 (USD), 75,000 Saudi Arabian Riyal, 10,000 Canadian Dollars and 8 bottles of foreign liquor were recovered from his possession, said Siddique.
The detainee was handed over to Benapole Port Police Station, the BGB officer added.
Trade through Benapole land port suspended for Janmasthami
Export and import activities between Bangladesh and India remained suspended since Thursday morning due to Janmashtami, a religious festival of the Hindu community.
Abdul Jalil, deputy director of Benapole land port, said the trade activities between the two countries remained suspended since morning as there is a holiday on the both sides due to Janmashtami celebration.
The trade activities will resume on Saturday, he said.
However, the immigration activities are going on as usual.
Read: Export-import through Benapole land port halted
Fuel price hike hinders transportation at Benapole Port
Transportation of goods through the country’s largest land port Benapole has been crippled due to the transport fare hike following the recent price hike in fuel oils.
Businessmen at the port alleged that transport owners have increased the truck fare abnormally after the fuel price hike. As a result, they can’t send goods across the country as trucks are not available now, which created chaos in the transport system of the port.
Importers, transport agents and C & F agents are struggling to send goods to various places in the country imported from India.
Meanwhile, passengers of Benapole who returned home from India have to count additional money as all long route buses have increased the fare from Tk 200 to Tk 700 in different categories.
Importers said they used to pay Tk 15,000 to 21,000 a trip of a goods-laden truck from Benapole to Dhaka. But now, owners of the trucks are charging Tk 25,000 to 28,000 which is too much abnormal compared to the recent price hike of fuel.
Importers cannot release goods from the port due to a lack of trucks despite paying duty to the port customs, they lamented.
Read: Revenue declined by Tk 26.75 cr due to covid restrictions on Benapole port
On the other hand, some importers of Dhaka said they can’t bring the imported goods to factories because of additional truck fares.
Anwar Ali Anu, an importer of Jashore, said he brought goods from Benapole to Jashore by truck at Tk 5,000 maximum in the last month. But now truck owners are charging Tk 11,000 for the same amount of goods.
“This additional truck fare will trigger us to the losses,” he added.
Benapole Transport Agency Owners’ Association General Secretary Azim Uddin said importers will have to pay Tk 10,000 additional fare per truck as fuel cost has increased the pressure on the transport sector.
Echoing the same, Atikuzzaman Sony, president of the organisation said businessmen don’t get a truck or covered van despite offering additional fares increasing suffering for the importers.
Benapole Port Importers-Exporters Association president Mohsin Milon said many businesses are giving additional fares for some goods which might be rotted.
Benapole press club president gets death threat
Alhaj Mohsin Milon, senior journalist and president of Benapole Press Club allegedly received a death threat over his cell phone.He filed a general diary (GD) against Zahid Hasan at Benapole Port Police Station on Sunday noon seeking security, said Mohsin Milon.
Read: HC rules on forming commission to recognize armed rebellions against Bangbandhu’s killingMilon said on August 4 around 1 pm, he received a call from 01919011629 while Zahid humiliated him with appalling words.Later, journalists Nazrul Islam and Kamal Hossain tried to restrain Zahid, but he started speaking more provocatively.On August 6, Zahid posted my photo on Facebook and made derogatory remarks to defame me. Not only that, Zahid is now publicly threatening to kill me, claimed the press club president.
Woman held with 30,000 USD in Benapole
A woman has been detained at Benapole check post along with 30,000 US Dollar, BGB officials said Wednesday.
The detainee is Jerin Sultana, 35, daughter of Nazim Uddin of Dendabar village in Savar’s Ashulia.
Tipped off, a team of BGB-49 detained Jerin, who returned from India, when she was waiting to cross the check post after completing the customs immigration process on Tuesday evening.
Read: Two held with 2.30 lakh USD at Dhaka airport
Jashore BGB-49 Captain Lt. Colonel Shahed Minhaj Siddiqui said subsequent checking of her baggage led to the seizure of the US dollars.
A case was filed against the detainee under Money Laundering Act with the Benapole port police.
She was handed over to police, added the officer.
Onion imports through Benapole resume after 2 months
Bangladeshi traders have started to import onions from India through Benapole Land Port after a restriction of two months.
The import cost per kg of onion is Tk34. The cooking essential is being sold at the market at Tk36 per kg.
Importers said the prices of onions will drop further as the import volume goes up.
Read: Magura onion farmers in tears as prices plummet
Bangladesh imported 117 metric tonnes of onions from India Thursday afternoon.
Shamim Gazi, an importer of Benapole, said: "My company imported 117 metric tonnes of onions from India as the government had allowed us to do so."
Benapole Port Deputy Director Abdul Jalil said now the port is open 24 hours for quick unloading of the imported onions.
Illegal Indian products worth Tk 30cr seized in 10 months at Benapole border
Customs officials have seized illegal products worth Tk 30 crore at Benapole border from the India returnees in the past 10 months.
The Commissioner of Benapole Customs House Md. Azizur Rahman and Joint Commissioner A. Rashid Mia at the check-post searched the luggage of the passport holders returning from India and seized the products.
During this time, officials have filed 1,613 departmental cases regarding the seizure of illegal products.
The seized Indian products include 3,549 sarees, 2,930 salwar-kameez, 2,702 kg chocolates, 10,422 cosmetics, 262 medicines, 86 litre alcohol, 451 kg jewellery, 996 kg fabrics, 123 kg, Blankets, 4,465 kg parts and machinery, 104 kg sandals and 10 mobile phones.
According to customs sources, a gang was importing goods outside the baggage rules for a long time, evading taxes upon the products.
READ: 8 held over clash at Benapole port, trade resumes
A. Rashid Mia, joint commissioner of Benapole Customs House, said customs officials have been working to curb smuggling. The check-post have remained unprotected for a long time and it was easy to smuggle
“But now we have adopted a zero-tolerance policy on smuggling,” he said.
Benapole transport owners call off strike
Benapole Transport Agency Owners Association has called off their indefinite strike demanding adequate cranes and forklifts for the country's largest land port.
The decision to withdraw the strike scheduled to begin from Tuesday was taken after assurance from the port authorities to fulfill the demands at a joint meeting, said Azim Uddin Gazi, general secretary of Benapole Transport Agency Owners Association.
Also read: Benapole transport owners call indefinite strike from Tuesday
“If the demands are not met within June 16, the association will announce stricter programmer in this regard,” he said.
Mamun Kabir Tarafdar, Deputy Director of Benapole Port said,” A decision has been taken to add three new cranes and three new forklifts within next 15 days. And within next two months all the old cranes and forklifts will be changed.”
Also read: 8 held over clash at Benapole port, trade resumes
Earlier, Nayan, a representative of the owners, said that almost all the cranes and forklifts at the port have become obsolete. As a result, they have to pay extra money to rent trucks every day which is causing huge losses, Nayan added.
Man held with 15 gold bars from Benapole
Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) detained a man along with 15 gold bars from Putkhali border in Benapole port area on Tuesday.
The detainee was identified as Md. Monirul Islam, 37, son of late Nur Mohammad of Putkhali Uttar Para village in Jashore.
Also read:Man held with 15 gold bars from Benapole
Tipped-off, a team of BGB-21 conducted a drive in the area and detained Monirul along with the gold bars, weighing 1.749 kgs, said a media statement of Rab on Wednesday.
During preliminary interrogation, Monirul admitted that he collected the gold bars worth over Tk 1 crore from another person named Md. Ibrahim of the same village and tried to smuggle it to India through Putkhali border only for Tk 1000.
The detainee was handed over to Benapole Port Police, it said.