Customs department officials at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport seized 12 gold bars and 27 gold necklaces weighing around 1.5kg yesterday.
The gold, worth around Tk70 lakh, was found in a courier delivery from Singapore, said Quamrul Hasan, assistant commissioner of the customs department.
He also said they seized the gold bars at 3:30pm after scanning a DHL envelope that had arrived in Dhaka around 12:30pm on a Tiger Airways flight that came in from Singapore via Bangkok.
“The officials found the gold bars and 27 gold necklaces in an envelope which was addressed to an electronics shop named ‘New Khan Electronics’ in the capital’s Baitul Mukarram Market,” he said.
The filing of a case in this regard was underway, the official added.
It is widely reported that airports in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet are being used exclusively for smuggling gold, currencies and various precious metals and stones, in collaboration with a section of unscrupulous employees and officials at the airports.
Intelligence sources said at least 60 rings are involved in this smuggling business. The smuggling of gold centring the airports in Bangladesh has intensified since the Indian government imposed some restrictions on the import of gold last year.