Nearly Tk 5 crore gold seized at two int’l airports

DHAKA: The Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) has seized gold and gold paste worth nearly Tk 5 crore in separate operations at two international airports in Bangladesh.

At Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram, officials recovered 466 grams of gold bars concealed inside a frying pan and a vegetable grater. At Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, they seized six egg-shaped objects containing gold paste concealed in the rectums of two passengers.

The operations were conducted on October 18, according to a statement issued by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) on Monday.

Customs intelligence sources said the seized gold and gold paste in the two cases had an estimated combined value of nearly Tk 5 crore.

According to the CIID, a passenger named Kamrul Islam arrived at Shah Amanat International Airport from Abu Dhabi aboard US-Bangla Airlines flight BS350 at 7am on October 18.

Acting on a tip-off, customs intelligence officials were already stationed at the airport’s green channel. Although the passenger declared carrying 100 grams of gold jewellery, he denied having any additional gold.

His baggage was subsequently searched in the presence of officials from other agencies. Four broken gold bars, weighing a total of 466 grams, were found cleverly concealed inside a frying pan and a vegetable grater.

Including the declared 100 grams of gold jewellery, officials seized a total of 566 grams of gold. The estimated value of the seized gold, including customs duties and taxes, was Tk 98.30 lakh.

In a separate operation at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport that evening, customs intelligence officials uncovered another gold-smuggling attempt.

At around 6:15pm, two passengers arriving from the Maldives aboard US-Bangla Airlines flight BS338 were searched, leading to the recovery of six egg-shaped objects containing gold paste concealed in their rectums.

Three objects were recovered from each passenger, identified as Mohammad Solaiman and Zobayed Ahmed.

The six objects had a preliminary combined weight of 2.734 kilogrammes and an estimated value of around Tk 4 crore.

However, the actual gold content of the recovered gold paste has yet to be determined. The objects have been kept intact to preserve evidence for legal proceedings. Officials said the weight and actual value of the pure gold could be established after appropriate testing.

The CIID said operations to prevent gold smuggling were continuing through intelligence-led surveillance, risk-based passenger screening and coordination among various agencies.

It added that surveillance was being strengthened to detect smuggling attempts even as traffickers continued to change their methods.