37kg gold seized at Shahjalal

A bomb scare triggered by a panicky cabin crew led to a huge seizure of contraband gold at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport early on Tuesday.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 12 Nov 2013, 04:31 AM
Updated : 12 Nov 2013, 03:23 PM

A total of 320 gold bars weighing 37 kilograms and valued at TK 150 million were seized from a Qatar Airways flight that had landed at the airport around 6am.

Customs Assistant Commissioenr Madhab Biswas Debroy told bdnews24.com this was one of the biggest seizure of the illegally smuggled precious metal in Bangladesh in recent months.

The gold bars were found under two seats - 41 A and 41 D -- of the flight.

"They were neatly packed in cloth with black tapes", Debroy said.

A Sri Lankan cabin crew informed authorities suspecting the packets to be a bomb, said Alamgir Hossain, Senior Assistant Superintendent of Armed Police Battalion (APBn).

But no arrests have been made so far in connection with the seizures, he said.

It seems the passenger(s) who brought in this huge quantity of gold seem(s) to have got away, at least for the moment.

Several such hauls have been made in both Dhaka and Chittagong airports in recent months.

On Nov 2, a total of 41 gold bars were seized from the two airports within a span of two hours.

Then again, on Oct 29-30, 164 bars weighing 20 kilograms were seized.

Nearly 30kg gold was found in the toilet of a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight from Dubai on Oct 22.

On Oct 1, 14 gold bars were seized from a Doha flight that landed at Chittagong’s Shah Amanat Airport.

In Aug, 156 gold bars weighing 18 kg were seized from a sports bag in Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport.

File Photo

Customs officials on Aug 20 seized 7.5 kg of gold from an Indian citizen when he was about to board a Kolkata-bound flight after coming from Hong Kong.
On July 24, 124 gold bars were recovered at the same airport from a flight coming in from Nepal.
Some 146 gold bars were seized from a passenger in Chittagong airport in mid July.
On July 6, gold bars weighing 25 kg were seized at the Dhaka airport from a flight arriving from Kuwait.
Rising gold price in Bangladesh has led to smuggling attempts from other countries, particularly from the Middle Eastern countries.
Our India Correspondent adds:
The story is no different in neighbouring India, including states bordering Bangladesh.
Fifty-eight kilograms of gold was seized from a SUV at Behrampore in West Bengal's Murshidabad district when it was heading for Kolkata on Sunday.
The seized 504 gold biscuits were valued by Indian revenue intelligence at Rs 190 million.
Two persons in the SUV have been arrested and identified as Jagdeep Kumar, a resident of Rajasthan, and Dipak Sarkar from Raiganj in North Dinajpur.
India is trying to curb official import of gold to prevent outgo of foreign exchange in a desperate bid to stabilise the Indian currency.
Market analysts say some of the gold into India is coming through Bangladesh.