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Customs officials have recovered 80 gold bars hidden under a seat of a Flydubai aircraft at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.
The recovered gold weighs 9.331 kg and is estimated to be worth around Tk 20 crore at the current market price.
A criminal case was filed with the Airport Police Station on Thursday (September 3) over the incident.
The aircraft landed at the airport at 9:20pm on Wednesday (September 2). Acting on a tip-off, officials from Dhaka Customs House searched the aircraft.
According to a press release from the National Board of Revenue (NBR), customs officials arrived at 9:35pm to conduct the search and found the aircraft without passengers.
At around 9:40pm, customs officials, in the presence of representatives from various intelligence agencies, searched the aircraft and found some objects wrapped in black Scotch tape under a seat.
The objects were taken to the customs hall and opened in the presence of officials from various agencies, revealing 80 gold bars.
Customs officials said each bar weighed 116.64 grams, bringing the total weight to 9,331 grams.
The gold bars were found unclaimed. Customs officials suspect they were carefully concealed under the aircraft seat and brought into the country for smuggling by evading customs duties and taxes. They were allegedly intended to be taken outside the airport premises through an unspecified route.
The NBR said the joint operation by Dhaka Customs House and various intelligence agencies prevented the smuggling attempt.
As the gold bars are highly valuable, they were immediately deposited in the airport customs valuables warehouse. The process of depositing them with Bangladesh Bank is underway.
