The customs authorities of Chittagong airport last night seized 16kg gold which was left abandoned in a luggage – possibly smuggled from Dubai.
No one was arrested in this connection. The seized 138 bars were kept at the Chittagong Customs House of the airport.
Qazi Rezaul Hasan, assistant customs commissioner at the airport, told the Dhaka Tribune that the flight of Fly Dubai landed at the airport around 7:40pm.
The officials had found the luggage without any owner at the customs checking panel and discovered the gold bars wrapped in polythene bags.
The seized gold would worth around Tk6.9 crore, he said.
On Friday night, the customs authorities arrested a person with 16 gold bars worth Tk80 lakh from the same airport. Those bars were being carried inside table fans.
Existing law allows a person to carry highest 200gms gold from abroad after paying the fixed duties at the airport while a passenger can bring highest two kilograms of gold only after providing prior notice to the authorities concerned and paying the duties in line with a circular of the Bangladesh Bank, Rezaul said.
According to the customs sources, about 2,500 gold bars worth more than Tk100 crore were seized from the airport this year including the ones of yesterday. The recovered amount last year was 686 gold bars worth Tk35.30 crore.
