Shah Amanat International Airport authorities have seized foreign-brand cigarettes and mobile phones worth Tk 59 lakh 95 thousand from three inbound passengers arriving in Chattogram from the United Arab Emirates’ Dubai.
The contraband items were recovered on Friday night from the passengers travelling on US-Bangla Airlines flight BS 344.
The passengers were Mohammad Shah Alam and Md Arfan, both from Hathazari and Ashraful Islam of Zorarganj upazila of the district.
Engineer Mohammad Ibrahim Khalil, public relations officer of Shah Amanat International Airport, said that a team of the National Security Intelligence stationed at the airport conducted the search around 9:30pm after the men appeared suspicious while crossing through the green channel of customs after immigration clearance.
‘A total of 570 cartons of foreign-brand cigarettes worth Tk 19 lakh 95 thousand and 30 mobile phones worth approximately Tk 40 lakh were recovered from their possession,’ Khalil said, adding that the cigarettes were seized as those fall under the list of prohibited imports and the mobile phones were confiscated for exceeding the allowable baggage limit.
All three passengers were fined and their passport details were recorded, the official added.
He further said that they were released with a formal warning that legal action would be taken if similar incidents occured in the future.