Beauty Tobacco factory sealed over fake cigarette banderoles

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has sealed the factory of Beauty Tobacco Company in Shibaloy, Manikganj, over allegations of producing cigarettes using counterfeit stamp banderoles and attempting to evade taxes and duties.

A criminal case has also been filed against the company under the Special Powers Act.

The NBR disclosed the information in a press statement on Wednesday.

According to the NBR, a joint team of the Manikganj District Detective Branch and the Customs, Excise and VAT office raided the Beauty Tobacco factory in Shibaloy on August 11 following a tip-off.

The team seized 370,000 cigarettes of King Black, D&G, Dollar, Senor Gold and Barbie brands, along with 13,000 unused stamp banderoles.

Samples of the seized cigarettes and banderoles were sent to The Security Printing Corporation (Bangladesh) Ltd in Gazipur on August 12 for verification. In its report on August 23, the organisation confirmed that the stamp banderoles used on Dollar-brand cigarettes and the unused banderoles were counterfeit.

Of the 370,000 seized cigarettes, 90,000 had counterfeit banderoles attached to them. The authorities also recovered 13,000 unused counterfeit banderoles.

The NBR said the use of the counterfeit banderoles was an attempt to evade around Tk 1.13 million in duties and taxes.

A criminal case was filed against Beauty Tobacco Company at Shibaloy Police Station under Sections 25A, 25B, 25D and 25E of the Special Powers Act, 1974.

Following the filing of the case, the factory’s production activities were suspended and the facility was sealed.

The NBR said regular drives against the production, stockpiling and marketing of illegal tobacco products will continue.

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