Gold smuggling through Hajarat Shahjalal International Airport has become rampant after India increased duties and taxes on the import of precious metals, customs and intelligence officials at the airport said.
A record quantity of around 450kg gold had been seized at the Dhaka airport over the last 10 months, which was a reflection of the rampant smuggling of gold through the airport as well as intensified activities of smuggling rings, sources said.
Zakiya Sultana, commissioner of Customs at the Dhaka airport, told the Dhaka Tribune that a delegation team of Indian Customs, which visited Dhaka recently and held several meetings with the officials of the NBR and Customs in Bangladesh, informed that import of gold in India officially had decreased since duties on gold import was increased.
In face of intensified smuggling attempts, the Customs Department and other intelligence agencies had beefed up their vigilance and strengthened searching activities, because of which a record quantity of gold had been seized at the airport.
Quoting Indian Customs officials, she said India increased import duty on gold jewellery to 15% from 10% on September 17 this year, adding that the Indian move was aimed at protecting the domestic jewellery industry rather than stemming overseas purchases to narrow its current account deficit.
Sources said as jewellery industry in Bangladesh is based on the smuggled gold for having no approval of commercial imports, the Indian move on gold import accelerated the smuggling trend.
Gold smuggling has also jumped significantly in India and Nepal following a series of hikes on import taxes.
Meanwhile, after the seizure of the country’s biggest ever 124kg gold from a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight in July, a five-member committee has been formed on September 30 to look deep into the issue.
The chief of the committee, Moinul Khan, director general of Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate, said, “Although the committee has been formed following the seizure of 124kgs of gold, our target is to unearth the cause of recent increases in the smuggling of gold and where it goes.”
He said they already suspect 18 officials of Biman Bangladesh Airlines in connection with the two hauls of smuggled gold.
