14 kg gold seized at HSIA

Customs preventive team of Dhaka Customs House (DCH) seized 120 gold bars worth Tk 13.50 crore from inside a passenger carrying bus owned by US Bangla Airlines at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) on Thursday.

Sources at the HSIA said the DCH had been tipped off that a smuggler syndicate would bring a large gold consignment in Dhaka from Dubai by a flight of US Bangla Airlines and then the consignment will be smuggled out through a passenger carrying vehicle of the airlines.

When a vehicle reached near Gate-21 carrying passengers from the aircraft, customs officials started questioning the driver after passengers got down from the vehicle, said Shafiqur Rahman, an officer of the DCH.

At one stage, Md Harunor Rashid, 40, the driver of the bus, admitted that gold consignment had been kept hidden inside the vehicle.

Then the customs preventive team recovered four packets containing the gold bars, kept hidden inside the bus, the Customs official said. After searching the four packets at the customs hall, they found 120 gold bars weighing around 14.132 kgs.

A case was filed with the airport police station.