DHAKA: Customs officials at Bangladesh’s main airport in capital Dhaka on Wednesday seized 131 gold bars weighing 20.5 kg.
Shahiduzzaman Sarkar, assistant commissioner of the Customs Intelligence Department, told journalists that “We’ve seized six gold bars weighing about six kilograms from two persons who landed here by Flight MH 112 from Malaysia.”
“During the search, they were found carrying the gold bars worth about 30 million taka which were attached to their bodies,” he said.
The MH flight carrying the suspects landed at the Bangladesh’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at around 9:30 p.m. local time Wednesday.
Acting on a tip-off, Sarjar said the customs officials conducted the raid and found the gold bars.
He said the suspects who were identified as Chinese nationals, Chankok Wai, 24, and Chen Sim Sapp, 58, claimed that they were the only carriers.
Legal measures against the Chinese were being taken, he added.
Earlier in the day, Customs Intelligence Department seized 125 gold bars weighing 14.5kgs from the possession of two female passengers at the same airport.
The Bangladeshi women travelled from southeastern Chittagong city to capital Dhaka on Biman Bangladesh Airlines’ Kuwait-Chittagong-Dhaka flight and received the gold bars worth about 70 million taka from two international passengers on board, said Director General of Customs Intelligence Department Moinul Khan.
Sources said most of the time only the carriers are being caught, but the real smugglers remain behind the scene.
They said organized gangs of local smugglers having link with their foreign sidekicks are increasingly using Bangladesh as a route for illegal transportation of gold, foreign currencies, contraband drug and medicines.
