A haul of 40 bars of smuggled gold weighing around 4.7kg was recovered from a commode in a washroom at the Hajarat Shahjalal International Airport on Tuesday.
“Acting on a tip-off an attempt of smuggling a gold haul, personnel of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) recovered the gold bars hiding into a commode by searching a washroom at the Customs Hall of the airport around 10:30am,” said Moinul Khan, Director General of the CIID.
The senior CIID official said the gold was supposedly smuggled into the country from Dubai.
“The smugglers might have smuggled the gold bars to Dhaka by any flight from Dubai at any time,” he said, adding: “The gold bars were suspected to be hidden into the commode by the carrier of the gold as per an attempt to hand over the gold to other members of the smuggling ring.”
Airport sources said some officials of the Civil Aviation Authorities of Bangladesh (CAAB) and Biman Bangladesh Airlines were suspected in connection with the smuggling.
In the wake of extensive smuggling of gold through the airport, seizure of gold bars or ornaments has become quite a regular incident.
According to the sources, over 750kg of smuggled gold was seized in the past year, although the quantity of the seized gold was very little compared to the total quantity of gold, which could not be seized.
The sources said around 60 rings are active in the smuggling of gold, currencies, various precious metals, stones and other valuables, while a section of unscrupulous officials and employees at the airport aid the smugglers.
