Dhaka:Customs intelligence officials have seized goods valued at Tk 1.13 crore, including Viagra, insulin, and banned skin-whitening creams, during raids at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and the Kamalapur Railway Foreign Post Office.
According to United News of Bangladesh, the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) conducted these operations on Tuesday and Wednesday. The raids uncovered suspected smuggling routes involving air, postal, and rail transport.
On Wednesday, CIID officials confiscated approximately 55kg of medicines, including Viagra and insulin, from the baggage of a passenger named Jahangir, who was arriving from Ethiopia. The directorate emphasized that the uncontrolled use of Viagra without medical advice, as well as the improper transportation of temperature-sensitive medicines like insulin, could pose significant public health risks.
In a separate operation on Tuesday, officials at the Kamalapur Railway Foreign Post Office seized 7,787 pieces of Gouri cream, which is banned for import, along with 31 used laptops. The goods were allegedly transported into Bangladesh by air and were being routed to Chattogram General Post Office through the airport's sorting centre and the Railway Mail Service (RMS) Centre in Kamalapur.
Additionally, during baggage searches on the same day, officials seized 100 grammes of gold jewellery, laptops, mobile phones, including a Samsung Galaxy S25 FE, 288 cartons of cigarettes, 46kg of banned creams, and 17 litres of alcoholic beverages from passengers arriving on different flights.