37kg gold worth Tk32 crore seized at Dhaka airport in 6 months

Customs intelligence have seized around 37 kilograms of smuggled gold worth Tk32 crore at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the last six months.

The gold was seized from the passengers of four international flight operators, according to a press statement by customs intelligence.

Just last Tuesday, the law enforcement agency recovered around 7 kilograms of gold from a flight of US-Bangla Airlines at the Dhaka airport. The market price of the seized gold was estimated to be Tk4.87 crore, according to customs intelligence.

Eight staffers of catering services of the airline were detained on charge of their involvement in smuggling the gold.

Customs intelligence also seized a vehicle of the chairman of US-Bangla Airlines and filed a case with the Airport Police Station in this connection.

While speaking to Business Insider Bangladesh, Kamrul Islam, general manager of public relations at US-Bangla Airlines, said their flight carries thousands of people every day and the airline has no authority to check the passengers or their luggage.

“It is the responsibility of airport authorities and intelligence agencies to look after the matter,” he said.

Kamrul added that the carrier would extend all-out cooperation to law enforcers during the investigation.

Earlier, on January 22, officials of Dhaka Customs House recovered 7.29 kilograms of gold from the possession of a man named Sarwar Uddin who came to Dhaka from Muscat by a flight of US-Bangla Airlines. The market price of the gold was estimated at Tk5 crore.

On December 15 last year, law enforcers detained a man at the Dhaka airport who came from Dubai by a flight of Emirates Airlines and recovered 130 gold bars weighing 15 kilograms from his possession. The market price of the gold was estimated at Tk10 crore.

A team of the customs intelligence department also seized four gold bars from a flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines on November 10 last year. Later, they seized around 6.9 kilograms of gold from a flight of Emirate Airlines on November 18. The market price of the gold was estimated at Tk5.17 crore.

On September 13, a passenger came from Dubai by a flight of Saudi Airlines and was detained with around 3.7kg of gold worth approximately Tk2.22 crore.

Customs intelligence also detained a passenger who came from Jeddah by a flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines and recovered 5.2 kilograms of gold worth Tk3.12 crore on August 13 last year.

The intelligence data shows that most of the consignments came from the Middle Eastern countries like the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Muscat and Qatar.

Smugglers use toilets and seats of the planes, and vehicles of the respective airlines, customs intelligence sources said.

Like through Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, the similar spree of gold smuggling has been taking place by using Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram and Osmani International Airport in Sylhet, customs officials said.