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Customs officials have seized diamond-studded gold and platinum jewellery, precious stones and other items worth an estimated Tk 2.70 crore from a passenger arriving at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport from Kolkata.
The Dhaka Customs House seized the items from passenger Md Jony Rahman after suspicious metal objects were detected inside a pickle jar during baggage scanning at around 8:30pm on Saturday.
According to a press release issued by the Dhaka Customs House today, its preventive team and officials on duty during the airport’s C shift conducted the operation following a tip-off that gold might be smuggled into the country on Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight BG 396 from Kolkata.
The passenger completed immigration formalities and attempted to exit through the green channel without declaring his baggage.
A subsequent inspection led to the recovery of 389 diamond-studded gold rings weighing 478 grams, 151 diamond-studded platinum rings weighing 450 grams, three diamond-studded white gold items weighing six grams, two diamond-studded silver rings weighing eight grams, five diamond-studded gold lockets weighing four grams, one diamond-studded gold chain weighing five grams and 472 diamond-studded gold nose pins weighing 103 grams.
The seized items also included diamonds weighing 45 carats, 720 pieces of topaz, ruby and other precious stones, and 23 jewellery certificate cards, according to a press release from the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
The total weight of the seized goods was reported at 1,054 grams, excluding the separately measured carat weight of the diamonds.
Based on the jewellery certificates, the estimated market value of the seized items stands at Tk 2.70 crore.
The Dhaka Customs House preventive team has filed a criminal case against the passenger with the relevant police station in connection with the incident.