The National Board of Revenue (NBR) and Biman Bangladesh Airlines will take joint initiatives to stop gold smuggling into the country soon.
The decision was agreed upon by NBR Chairman Mujibur Rahman and Biman’s Managing Director Kyle Haywood at a meeting among representatives of the NBR, Biman and the Directorate of Customs, Intelligence and Investigation (DCCI) at NBR headquarters in the capital yesterday.
At the meeting, officials of the DCCI informed the NBR and Biman of the reasons behind the growing trend of smuggling into the country.
“Biman officials have been found to be involved in the recent cases of gold smuggling. The technical and other officials help them pass the smuggled gold through the security channel,” said Moinul Khan, directorate general of customs, intelligence and investigation.
“We have informed the Biman MD in this regard. It is impossible to carry the gold in without their assistance. Biman needs to form a task force in order to curb the growing trend of smuggling. Since the problem lies with Biman, they have to resolve it, but they can take help from other authorities concerned,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
Additional security will be deployed at the loading point as well as the boarding lounge at the airports to prevent gold smuggling, he added.
The NBR also urged the Biman authorities to take disciplinary action against the officials found guilty in recent smuggling cases, sources at the meeting said.
Gold smuggling has increased at an alarming rate lately in the country, becoming a cause of concern for the DCCI.
“We have identified several Biman officials who were involved with gold smuggling and informed the Biman authorities about them, but they did not take any action against them,” said an official at the directorate, seeking anonymity.
“Leaving the officials employed and unpunished helped the smuggling rise and encouraged others to be involved in the crime,” he said.
According to intelligence, gold are smuggled into the country through the departure gate, waiting lounge, hanger gate, domestic gate, BFCC gate, and export gate at the airports.
The NBR sent a letter to the Civil Aviation Authority Bangladesh and Biman in November to set up close-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in those areas to prevent smuggling, but neither authorities installed it.
The NBR also suggested Biman to not allow the accused officials to enter the sensitive areas, but the Biman authorities did not take any action in that regard as well.
Bangladesh has become a popular route for gold smuggler since India increased import duty for gold by 10% in January 2013.
Intelligence data suggests that over the past one year, around 1,000kg of gold has been recovered from Biman aircraft at various airports in the country.
In November last year, law enforcers arrested five people, including a deputy director of the national flag carrier, for their involvement in smuggling.
Detectives found that five pilots, four co-pilots, 25 cabin crew members, 15 flight stewards, seven junior pursers, three flight pursers and five chief pursers were involved with the crime.
Investigations have revealed that at least 23 identified rackets have been actively smuggling gold in Bangladesh. Eleven of them directly smuggle gold, while others operate in the guise of money exchange traders. Of the 11 syndicates directly involved, seven are based at the Dhaka airport, three at Chittagong and one at Sylhet.
