Two Ctg port employees held over missing imported fabric container
Police said the container was unloaded from a vessel through berth operator Bashir Ahmed after it had arrived at the port and was later stored at the JR Yard of the port.
Police have arrested two employees of the Chittagong Port Authority over their alleged involvement in the disappearance of a container loaded with imported garment fabrics worth several crore taka from the port yard.
The arrestees were Mizanur Rahman, a higher-grade external assistant at the port, and Abu Sufian, who works at the port's Keep Down SC-188 section.
Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Abdur Rahim of Bandar police station said investigators found evidence of the involvement of two port employees. "Based on the findings, the two were arrested on Wednesday."
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According to police, the incident involves a 40-foot container carrying imported garment fabrics from China that went missing from the Chattogram port yard between 4 August last year and 2 April this year.
The container was imported by Moazzuddin Textile Limited in Gazipur. The fabrics inside were estimated to be worth several crores of taka.
Police said the container was unloaded from a vessel through berth operator Bashir Ahmed after it had arrived at the port and was later stored at the JR Yard of the port.
However, when the C&F agent, S Zaman and Brothers Pvt Limited, completed customs procedures and went to take delivery of the container, it could no longer be found in the yard.
A case was later filed with the Bandar police station over the disappearance.
Earlier, between February and August last year, two more fabric-laden containers worth around Tk1.5 crore disappeared from the port yard. The containers had been auctioned off, but when the successful bidders arrived to collect the goods after paying the full auction value, the containers could not be located in the yard. A probe committee was formed to investigate the incident, but even after a year, the Chittagong Port Authority has yet to determine the whereabouts of the missing containers.
