🔳 250 containers filled with goods disappeared by breaking through the Essaykoda World System and the port security zone.

🔳 The port authority has  250 locked risky import containers mysteriously ‘disappeared’ from the Chittagong port.

🔳 250 containers have disappeared in four years, the port authority is responsible for them until they are legally released.

250 containers filled with goods have disappeared from the Chittagong port. The Chittagong Custom House had banned the release of these containers based on secret information about smuggling and revenue evasion. Even the Essaykoda World System was locked in the delivery status. But in reality, there is no trace of the containers.

Despite having one of the strictest cargo clearance systems in the country, no physical location of at least 250 high-risk import containers identified on suspicion of customs offences at the Chittagong port is available.

According to a review of various media reports and government correspondence, the Chittagong Custom House has repeatedly urged the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) over the past nine months to identify the actual location of 250 containers—locked or blocked in the customs software Asycuda World Risk Management System—on suspicion of smuggling, false declaration of goods or duty evasion.

At least three letters seeking the same information were sent before the latest request sent by the Audit, Investigation and Risk Management (AIR) branch of the customs in April this year. However, the port authority has not yet been able to provide the location of those containers.

Meanwhile, the list of unaccounted containers includes 83 containers from 2021; 61 from 2022; 40 from 2023 and 66 from 2024. According to the customs rules, there is no chance of releasing these consignments until the investigating officers conduct an on-site inspection.

Customs officials said that since the location of the containers has not been found, it is not possible to conduct any kind of inspection or investigation process.

“We have written to the port authorities three to four times asking for the location of these containers. Although our last reminder was sent last April – we have not received any information yet,” Tarek Mahmud, deputy commissioner of the AIR branch, told TMG.

He added, “We cannot say that all the containers are missing, but we are not getting any cooperation from the port. So there is a strong fear that many of these containers have actually disappeared.”

Meanwhile, without knowing the exact location of the containers – the customs authorities are unable to verify the imported goods, complete the investigation and take any legal action against the importers suspected of customs fraud.

🔆 Separate thefts raise concerns

The shocking news of the missing locked containers comes at a time when investigations are underway into the disappearance of at least three loaded containers of fabric from the port in a year.

One such incident happened to businessman Salim Reza, who owns Shah Amanat Trading. He had purchased a container of 27 tonnes of imported indigo fabric through an electronic auction (e-auction) by the customs. He paid Tk 8.5 million for the product and his total expenditure, including VAT, advance income tax and other incidental charges, came to Tk 1.6 million.

After inspecting the container himself before participating in the auction, he went to the port on February 26, 2025, to unload the goods. But when he got there, he found that the container had disappeared.

Four months later, the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) officially admitted that the container was nowhere to be found inside the port. In a letter dated July 2, 2025, the port authority said that a joint investigation committee had failed to trace the container, which made it impossible to hand it over to the buyer at the auction.

Meanwhile, the port authority has filed two separate criminal cases in connection with the disappearance of two more containers loaded with goods.

Investigators allege that one of the containers was removed from the port using fake seals, forged signatures and forged gate pass documents. The container was later recovered by the Port Police in an empty state from the city’s Halishahar area. However, the imported fabric or cloth, estimated to be worth Tk 2 crore, inside was not found.

Police have arrested four people, including two port employees, in the incident, while another suspect is still at large. In addition, another container carrying imported fabrics worth around 25 million taka disappeared earlier this year, and no trace of it has been found so far.

🔆 Questions about digital records

The investigation process also revealed major inconsistencies in the port’s cargo management system.

Investigators found that even after a container had physically disappeared, it was being shown as stored inside the CCT (Chittagong Container Terminal) yard in the port authority’s Oracle-based cargo management system. However, in reality, the investigators could not find the container anywhere in the yard, and even the port’s main ‘terminal operating system’ did not find any matching or consistent records.

Such a stark contrast between the system and reality has given customs officials a chance to raise major questions about the port authority’s ongoing claim of a paperless, 100% digital port.

“The port yards have now expanded to different locations, so monitoring cargo movements has become much more challenging than before,” said Tarek Mahmud.

“There are major loopholes in the system somewhere or the other. Otherwise, a container cannot simply disappear.” He also questioned the effectiveness of the port’s so-called digitalization.

“The port authority claims that they are going paperless and digital. But if the entire container disappears, what exactly has been digitized?” he said.

He added that the tracking or surveillance system in warehouses unloading LCL (less-than-container-load) or partial cargo is even weaker. There are occasional incidents where one importer’s goods are taken to another importer.

🔆 Evading strict clearance process

These incidents have raised major questions about how a container can slip through one of the country’s most secure security fences – despite the obligation to go through an extensive approval process.

According to customs agents, usually, about 24 separate signatures and approvals are required from various departments, including the port authority’s one-stop service, terminal authorities, yard officials, delivery staff and customs gate staff, to clear a full container (FCL).

Investigators believe that forged signatures, fake seals and forged gate passes have been used to circumvent all these strict controls. Despite years of digitalization efforts, these frauds have exposed how much the system still relies on manual or traditional verification and how fragile its security system is.

🔆 Legal Liability

According to Sections 8 and 130 of the Customs Act 2023, the Chittagong Port Authority is the legal guardian of all imported cargo or goods stored at the port. They are fully responsible for the safe custody of the goods until they are legally discharged or handed over.

Citing this legal provision, the Customs Authority has urged the Port Authority to refund or compensate Shah Amanat Trading for the total amount of Tk 1.6 crore collected from the auction price, VAT and advance income tax deposited with the government for the missing container.

When the Port Authority officially admitted their inability to deliver the container, the concerned buyer applied for a full refund.

🔆 Questions that went unanswered

Despite repeated requests from Customs, the port authority has yet to clarify why it is unable to locate the 250 locked containers, or how one by one the containers loaded with goods are disappearing from one of the most secure state facilities in Bangladesh.

On the other hand, the port authority has written to the head of news of a private TV channel, saying that the publication of the report titled “250 containers missing” has tarnished the image of the port.

The letter states that the 250 cargo shipments claimed by the customs are not correct, it should be 247. According to the claim mentioned in the letter, the number of FCL (Full Container Load) containers in 164 cargo shipments is 293 boxes. And the remaining 83 cargo shipments have LCL (Less than Container Load) cargo.

He further said
Out of the said 293 box containers, 88 box containers have been delivered from the port through customs out-pass. As per the announcement in the IGM, 70 box containers have been transferred to various private depots and 131 box containers are lying in various yards of Chittagong port. In addition, the port secretary said that 04 container numbers mentioned in the cargo shipments provided do not have the correct digits/prefixes.

Out of the remaining 83 LCL cargo shipments, 08 box cargo shipments have been delivered through customs out-pass. In various CFS/sheds at Chittagong port There are 35 pending product shipments. The remaining 40 shipments are not correct with the B/L number given by the customs. It is also worth noting that all these containers/cargoes have been handed over to the customs authorities on a bye paper. The port secretary said that the matter has already been informed to the customs authorities through a letter.

Why did a businessman not receive his auctioned container..?

The answer to that question
Port Secretary Syed Refayet Hamim said on the phone that the customs authorities will answer the question, and according to the law, the responsibility for this remains with the port authorities. The port secretary clarified about the 250 containers, “It is not actually 250 containers, it is also 247 product shipments.”

🔆 If everything is in order, where is the answer to the question of the victim businessman Selim Reza..?

He said, “I have paid every penny of the money that the government demanded from me. Meanwhile, the customs authorities say that the port authorities have been asked to return the total amount of 1.6 crore taka collected from the auction price, VAT and advance income tax collected from the government for the missing container to Shah Amanat Trading. Now everyone is unanimously admitting that my container is missing, but where did it go—no one can answer that…!.!”

Chittagong Port has been making continuous contributions to the country’s economic development in the past years, and is also progressing as a world-class port in all indicators of efficiency. In this situation, he called for the dissemination of accurate and information-based news about Chittagong Port.