Customs Intelligence officials at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport recovered 18 kg smuggled gold bars this morning from a United Airways passenger transport inside the airport. The bus carries passengers to and from the aircraft inside the airport. Customs officials also detained the bus driver in this connection.
As usual, the United Airways flight from Muscat-Dubai to Dhaka landed at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at around 9 am. Since the aircraft is small, it was parked at the bay area of apron side of the runway and passengers were being transported to the terminal by the bus. Upon secret information, customs intelligence raided the bus and discovered a black bag inside the toolbox by the driver’s side which contained 155 gold bars weighing 10 tolas each aggregating 18 kg in total.
Customs intelligence officials detained the concerned bus driver Kabir (32) on suspicion of involvement into the smuggling.
Seemingly, gold smuggling are on the rise in Bangladesh of which only a few illegal consignments are detected. According to a news report published in a national daily, gold ornaments of worth around 25 crore BDT are traded in the market throughout the country, but customs department did not receive a single penny as customs duty for importing gold. The news report alleged that, most of the gold are carried into the country by illegal means avoiding customs authority.
Customs officials and Airport Armed Police recovered significant amount of smuggled gold from the airport this year of which 124 kg gold seized 25 July, 2013, 25.3 kg gold recovered in 6 July, 2013 are notable ones.
