The Chattogram Custom House will auction off 28 tonnes of buffalo meat tomorrow as the meat remained abandoned after being imported from India.

The reserve price of the 27,980 kilogrammes of meat has been fixed at Tk 2.45 crore, according to the port city custom house.

The auction will start at the auction branch of the custom house at 11am tomorrow.

A Narayanganj-based importer, NB Trading, brought in the frozen buffalo meat from India in the first week of May this year.

A notice has been issued for auction as the importer did not take away the consignment in time, said Md Abdul Hannan, deputy commissioner for auction at the custom house.

The meat has an expiry date of December 31 this year, he said.

As per the rule, the customs authorities arranged miking in different nearby kitchen markets yesterday and today for the publicity of the auction, he said.

Yesterday, the authorities also let the interested buyers have a look at the product, which was in a 40-foot reefer (refrigerated) container in New Mooring Container Terminal of the port.

According to the rules, the importers need to take delivery of their consignments within 30 days of the goods being unloaded from the ships.

If the importer fails to receive the consignments within the period, the port authority hands over the import documents to the customs authority, who then issues a notice to the importer for taking the delivery.

If the importer does not take delivery within 15 days of the notice, the goods can be auctioned off.