Luxury cars imported in parts to evade taxes

Customs officials have uncovered an attempt to evade a large amount of tax by importing four luxury cars in pieces and declaring them as used car parts. The seized shipment is estimated to be worth between Tk 4.5 crore and Tk 7.5 crore.

The Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) detected the scheme while the shipment was being cleared at Mongla Port.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) confirmed the matter in a press release on Thursday.

The shipment contained complete parts of four luxury cars �" a Range Rover Vogue, BMW 650i, Lexus LX 570 and Toyota Crown Athlete.

The importer declared the goods as used car parts. But customs officials found that the vehicles had been brought in semi-knocked-down (SKD) form, with each car divided into only three or four large sections.

A 100 per cent physical inspection was carried out. Experts from the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET) helped identify the vehicles. Customs officials also used artificial intelligence to examine labels, stickers, markings and numbers on the parts.

The inspection found that the cars had not been fully dismantled like normal spare parts. Instead, the vehicles appeared to have been cut into a few large sections for import.

Officials said the parts could potentially be joined again to rebuild the main structure and features of the vehicles.
The shipment had 164 packages under 14 items, weighing around 10,220kg.

The importer was Crown Automobile Services of Dhaka, while ST International of Khulna was the clearing and forwarding agent. The exporter was Mahi Car Port of Tochigi, Japan.

The importer declared only Tk 670,000 in customs duties and taxes.

The NBR said the final amount of possible tax evasion would be determined after classifying the goods as motor vehicles and assessing their value, engine capacity, age, depreciation and applicable duties and taxes.