Two Indian nationals were arrested with smuggled gold bars and huge foreign currencies in their possessions at the Shahjalal International Airport yesterday morning.
Jignesh Kumer Zain alias Suresh, 40, and Dinesh Zain alias Mangi Lal, 40, were arrested after they arrived at Dhaka around 4:30am from Abu Dhabi on an Etihad Airways flight, said Qamrul Hasan, assistant commissioner of Customs.
They were arrested with the gold, weighing 5.5kg, at a time when gold smuggling has become rampant through Dhaka and Chittagong airports, a reflection of increased duties and taxes on the import of precious metals in India. The duties and taxes were increased aiming at protecting the domestic jewellery industries, rather than stemming overseas purchases, to narrow its current account deficit.
Jignesh was arrested around 5:30am in the Green Channel area while Mongi Lal was trapped and arrested around 7:30am using Jignesh’s information, the assistant commissioner said.
Customs officials found five gold bars, 86,000 Dubai Dirham and 36,000 Indian Rupees in their possessions, Qamrul added.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Customs Commissioner Zakiya Sultana said: “Although the Indians arrived at Dhaka by air, they were supposed to return to India through land border as they had no return ticket.”
“Hailing from Mumbai, their passports show they were used to travel Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Dubai frequently. One of them came to Dhaka for the first time,” she added.
When asked, the customs commissioner said: “They might have arrived in Dhaka either for handing over the gold bars to somebody else or for crossing the land border with the gold.”
A case was filed and they were handed over to the Airport police station, she added.
Customs and intelligence officials have seen a record quantity of over 500kg of gold seized at the airports in Dhaka and Chittagong over the last 10 months after India increased import duty on gold jewellery to 15% from 10%.
The biggest ever haul of 124kg gold was recovered from a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight in July.
It is widely known that many groups are active in the smuggling of gold, various precious stones, metals and valuables through the airport in cooperation with a section of officials and employees.
Like Bangladesh, gold smuggling has also jumped significantly in India and Nepal following a series of hikes on import taxes.