The young detainee with 24 gold bars at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport might belong to a smuggling ring, police and customs officials suspect.
“The detainee’s passport shows that he used to frequent Dubai, which leads us to suspect that he is a member of smuggling gang,” said Zakiya Sultana, commissioner of Customs Department at the airport.
In most cases, the owners usually do not carry the smuggled gold or other precious items, she added.
Customs officials arrested the youth – Sohel Ahmed, 27, with gold bars Tuesday morning from inside the airport. The arrestee came from Dubai.
Following the arrest, Sohel was handed over to police who were quizzing him on a two-day remand. The arrested youth hails from Sylhet Bianibazar.
Airport police station Officer-in-Charge Samsuddin Saleh Ahmed Chowdhury said during interrogation, Sohel claimed that he was carrying those valuables in exchange for money and some unknown persons in Dubai gave those to him.
However, Sub-Inspector Mazharul Islam, investigation officer of the case, said Sohel had travelled to Dubai frequently and one of his brothers ran a business there.
More than 350kgs of gold had been seized over the last 10 months from the airport during smuggling attempts.
Customs Commissioner Zakiya Sultana said so far they had deposited around 300kgs of gold to the Bangladesh Bank.
Of the gold smuggling incidents at the airport, the haul of 124-kg gold on July 24 was the biggest bust ever.
A number of smuggling rings are active at the airport and slip through the net of customs checks in an alleged collusion with a section of staff and crew members of different airlines.
More than 3600 of them were arrested in last three years.
