Dhaka : A Dhaka customs house preventive team has detained two people, including an airport technician, with 14 gold bars—weighing about 1.6 kilograms—at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.
They were detained at the luggage collection area of the airport around 5pm on Wednesday.
The estimated market price of the seized gold is about Tk82 lakh.
The detainees are passenger Molam Mia, 45, hailing from Singair upazila of Manikganj; and Abdul Aziz, a technician of the airport Plant Quarantine Wing.
Dhaka Airport Custom House Deputy Commissioner Othela Chowdhury confirmed the matter to Dhaka Tribune.
He said, acting on information, customs officials caught Molam Mia—a passenger of the flight BG40 from Saudi Arabia—and the airport technician Aziz, as the passenger handed Aziz gold bars, near Belt 8 of the luggage collection area.
He furthered that the passenger was unable to produce a valid document allowing him to carry the gold bars in his possession.
Information regarding the gold consignment, and pictures of Aziz, were found saved inside the airport technician’s mobile phone memory, the deputy commissioner added.
Both detainees were handed over to the police station concerned after legal action was taken against the passenger and the technician, for assisting in smuggling, under the Customs Act, 1969 and Special Powers Act, 1974.
The Plant Quarantine Wing is operated by the Department of Agricultural Extension whose office is situated at Farmgate in Dhaka.
