Customs officials recovered 40 gold bars, weighting around 4.7kgs, from a toilet at the Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka yesterday.
“Acting on a tip-off, the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) recovered the gold bars by searching a washroom at the Customs Hall of the airport at 10:30am”, said Moinul Khan, director general of the CIID.
“The smugglers might have smuggled the gold at Dhaka by any flight from Dubai any time”, he said.
Airport sources said some officials of the Civil Aviation Authorities of Bangladesh (CAAB) and Biman Bangladesh Airlines were suspected to be linked to the smuggling.
In the wake of extensive smuggling of gold through the airport, seizure of gold bars or ornaments has become almost a regular incident.
According to the sources, over 750 kgs of smuggled gold were seized in last one year although the quantity of the seized gold was very little compared to the 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 act as the aids to the smugglers.
Meanwhile, the CIID and Customs department officials in a separate drive seized a huge quantity of smuggled cigarettes worth over Tk 1 crore from a flight of Etihad Airways at the airport in the afternoon. According to the CIID officials, the cigarettes were seized immediate after the haul of gold.
