Two Saudia air hostesses, bank official detained with 5kg gold at Dhaka airport

Customs officials have detained two air hostesses of Saudia airlines and a female official of a private bank in possession of over five kilograms of gold at Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport.

The air hostesses Farzana Afroz, 32, and Saima Akhtar, 40, were detained with 36 gold bars weighing over 4 kg early on Monday, said Dhaka Customs House Deputy Commissioner Othello Chowdhury.

File Photo: A view of Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka. Photo: Asif Mahmud Ove

Customs officers patrolling the No. 10 boarding bridge area of the airport on Monday followed the duo of Saudia flight SV802 from Saudi Arabia after 2am, said Othello.

The two denied they had any taxable goods to declare after crossing through the green channel, said Othello.

“Female officers conducted body searches and found 36 gold bars on them.”

The estimated market value of these gold bars, weighing a total of 4.2kg, is about Tk 21 million, Othello added.

The detainees were handed over to airport police station under the Customs Act of 1969 and the Special Powers Act of 1974.

The bank official, Razia Mahmud, 50, was also detained at the airport early in the morning.

An assistant vice-president of Premier Bank working at its Kolabagan branch in Dhaka as deputy manager and operation in-charge, Razia landed at the airport on a flight from Malaysia, Othello said.  

She, too, had declared nothing taxable on her, but 1 kg gold worth Tk 5 million was found on her body during search, the customs official said.

Razia told the customs officials that she did not own the gold but smuggled it in exchange for money.

She was also handed over to police.