Marshal Agrovet sued again over forgery to import larvicide BTI

Chattogram Bureau :

Marshal Agrovet, the firm sued over fraud allegations centring the supply of organic larvicide to Dhaka, faces new charges of forgery to get the imported product released from Chattogram port.

Chattogram Customs House filed a case against Marshal officials and their clearing and forwarding agent Tivoli Enterprise under the Special Powers Act at Chattogram Port Police Station on Thursday.

The accused include Marshal Executive Director M Nasir Uddin Ahmed, Managing Director Mohammad Alauddin, Tivoli’s owner Biswanath Karmakar, and its employees Zakir Hossain and Shahidul Islam.

Citing the case document, Sanjay Sinha, chief of the police station, said Tivoli submitted documents, including Marshal’s licence for importing pestiticide, to release the product on July 26.

Chattogram Customs House learnt from the Department of Agricultural Extension on Aug 22 that the licence submitted with the papers did not match Marshal’s original licence.

The fake licence had organic larvicide Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis or BTI on No. 29 of products while the original one has Coradex-50 SP made from cyromazine on that serial number.

“The declared product [BTI] was smuggled into Bangladesh by using false documents, which is an offence under the Customs Act,” the plaintiff alleged.

The case also alleges that the fake licence carried customs director Abdul Mazed’s signature dated Oct 20, 2022, but the official retired on Jun 30 that year.

The original licence has the signature of former director AZM Sabbir Ibn Zahan, dated Dec 9, 2019.

The Dhaka North City Corporation on Aug 7 introduced BTI to combat the Aedes mosquito larvae responsible for spreading diseases such as dengue.