Amid the surge in onion prices across Bangladesh, the Chattogram district administration has seized five tonne of onions from an iron and cement warehouse in Hathazari Upazila.
The seizure was made during a raid by a mobile court at Hathazari municipality on Wednesday (Oct 2), Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Mohammad Ruhul Amin told Bangla Tribune.
Amin, who led the mobile court, said one businessman, Amir Hossain imported the onion from India on Sept 11 and stored in a cement godown aimed at creating more profit.
Tipped-off, the mobile court raid the warehouse and recovered the onions.
Legal action will be taken against the trader after verifying his import permits, said the UNO.
Prices of onions have gone up by several folds in the local markets following India's ban on the export of onions on Sunday (Sept 29). Bangladesh is one of the top three destinations for Indian onions.
Prices first started to rise since floods hit one-third of Bangladesh in July this year.
In a bid to control the soaring prices, Trading Corporation of Bangladesh started the sale of onions at Tk 45 per kg across the country from Tuesday (Oct 1).
The government has also deployed monitoring teams across the country to check the onion prices in the market.
Meanwhile, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said the prices of onions will drop within a couple of days due to incoming stock from both Myanmar and Turkey.
483 tonne of onions from Myanmar have already reached Teknaf in the southeastern district of Cox’s Bazar, Munsi told the media offices on Wednesday.
“Another lot of around 400 to 500 ton from Myanmar is expected to come in today [Wednesday],” he added.