DHAKA: Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday attached assets worth Rs 20 crore of an alleged gold smuggler who was arrested in West Bengal last year for running an illegal yellow metal trade across the border with Bangladesh.
Officials said the assets of Abdul Barik Biswas were seized under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after ED identified his properties suspected to be derived from the “proceeds of crime” of gold smuggling.
“The attached assets include properties like house, vehicles and some cash in the name of Biswas and a few of his associates,” sources said.
ED registered a case against Biswas after taking cognizance of a Customs department case against him. Customs authorities had arrested Biswas in March last year and seized over 40kgs of glod bars worth Rs 15 crore from his possession.
Biswas is at present in jail and ED had also placed him under arrest under PMLA sections last year. This is one of the first cases where the central probe agency slapped money laundering charges in a gold smuggling case.
Sources said Barik was the kingpin of a gold smuggling racket in border areas and has been on the radar of central security agencies and Customs authorities before they nabbed him as part of a special operation in 2014.
