Importer arrested for ‘developing’ commerce ministry fake website
Earlier on 17 November, the CID arrested five people in this connection
A team from the cyber police has arrested Md Jalil, owner of Messrs Siam Enterprise – the main accused in a case filed by the Chattogram Custom House for developing a fake website in the name of the Ministry of Commerce.
He was arrested from Dhaka, said the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police.
Earlier importer Khan Enterprise, the C&F agent of a consignment of baby food that has been seized by the authorities for importing it through false declaration, made a fake clearance permit (CP) and falsified the website of the Ministry of Commerce to get the consignment released.
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Muhammad Shahnewaz Khaled, CID special police superintendent of Chattogram, told The Business Standard on Saturday that Md Jalil was arrested from 66 Moulvibazar in the capital's Chawkbazar – the address of Siam Enterprise – on Friday and was later taken to Chattogram.
He further said that Golam Maula Khan, owner of Khan Enterprise, his younger brother Golam Rasul Khan, developer of the fake website Abul Khair Parvez, Md Atiqur Rahman Russell and Rahat Haider Chowdhury Rana were also arrested by the CID earlier.
They have given confessional statements in the court, Golam Maula added.
Sujoy Debnath, assistant customs officer of Chattogram Custom House, filed a case with Bandar police station on 29 October alleging fraud by opening a fake website in the name of the Ministry of Commerce. The case is being investigated by the CID.
According to customs house sources, a consignment of 13,520 kilograms of peanuts and 4,510 kilograms of olives arrived at the port on 10 January in the name of Messrs Siam Enterprise. Khan Enterprise of Progressive Tower on Sheikh Mujib Road in Chattogram submitted a bill of entry to the customs house as a C&F company for unloading the consignment.
The Audit, Investigation and Research (AIR) branch of the customs house locked the importer's bill of entry due to confidential information. Later, a physical examination of the consignment found 21,060 kg of Nestle LACTOGROW formulated milk powder for children which were not declared. It is a conditional product as per the Article-17 of the Import Policy Order 2015-18.
As a result, the customs authorities imposed a personal fine of Tk66 lakh and a redemption fine of Tk10 lakh on the importer and ordered the release of the consignment subject to the submission of the CP by the Ministry of Commerce or the Office of the Chief Controller of Import and Export.
Then on October 11, the importer submitted a CP of the commerce ministry.
While verifying the CP and other documents, the authorities found a copy of the CP submitted to the website address (www.mincomgov.com) that was mentioned in the heading of the commerce ministry's CP.
Since the matter seemed suspicious to the customs officials, they talked directly to the deputy secretary who signed the CP over phone and came to learn that the CP was fake.
