Bangladesh has decided to crack down on the sale of smuggled and stolen cell phones to discourage black marketing, which reportedly constitutes 90 percent of this multimillion-dollar industry here.
The customs department will raid markets selling illegal cell phone sets in a bid to improve the official share in the annual $83.3 million business, reports Xinhua.
Smuggling of cell phone sets continued unabated even though the government had halved the duty on cell phone imports to $25 from the current fiscal, a National Board of Revenue official said.
The Dhaka Customs House issued a notice to eight markets here, asking them not to sell illegal sets. It will now seize sets being sold without warranty and other papers.
Nearly one million cell phone sets are sold in Bangladesh every year, but official importers hold only 10 percent of the market, said Shahriar Raihan, the official importer of Samsung sets.
A Siemens importer also welcomed the government's move, saying it will increase the government's revenue besides providing users with quality sets and service guarantee.
City market officials however said the move might lead to harassment of businessmen and suggested that customs block and seize smuggled cell phones at entry points.