Unusual surrender of a duty-free car

The owner of an unregistered luxury car left his vehicle in front of the Customs Intelligence office in Sylhet, apparently being unable to pay the taxes and get the vehicle registered.

Customs Intelligence officials of Sylhet found the 2007 Lexus RX 350 abandoned outside their office around 2:00am yesterday and there was an unsigned letter from the owner inside the car.

The unusual incident happened at a time when customs intelligence officials were carrying out drives against cars brought into the country without paying taxes.

The officials have so far seized 11 luxury cars in last couple of months. 

In the letter, the car was said to have been brought in from UK in 2011 under carnet facility.

“Carnet de passage is a permission given to foreigners for using their cars, brought in from abroad, inside a country for a specific period of time. Bangladesh stopped issuing this permit in 2014,” a customs intelligences official said.

Taxes do not apply to cars brought in with carnet de passage.

Moinul Khan, director general of Customs Intelligence, told The Daily Star, "The letter said the car has been handed over to customs intelligence to comply with the law.

“This car has been used on roads without compliance. The owner preferred anonymity while handing over the car which was found to be not registered.”

The letter addressing the DG of Customs Intelligence said, "I am a permanent resident of London for the past 49 years. I have been working in Bangladesh as a foreign investor for a long time.”

 “I brought this Lexus car under Carnet De passage facility for my personal use. I thought I could renew the permit as a foreign investor. But I did not get any assistance from the government in this regard.

"Hence, the tax and duty money for this vehicle went out of my hands. I could not pay them. I did not send the vehicle back and did not use it since its permit expired.

"I am surrendering my vehicle to you out of respect for law. Soon, I will bring all documents and receipts related to this car from London and hand it over to you.”

The letter read, "I firmly believe I will get all necessary assistance from the government and will not face any harassment."

"Now, I humbly request you to let me know the accurate sum I need to pay to clear the pending tax. I am also requesting the government's assistance in this regard."