150 gold bars worth $1.2 million seized at Bangladesh airport

Dhaka: In one of the biggest hauls of smuggled gold in Bangladesh, customs officials seized 150 gold bars worth nearly $1.2 million from an aircraft of the national carrier at the Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram on Monday, according to a media report.

The gold bars weighing 17.4 kg were seized from Biman Bangladesh’s flight BG-128 returning from Abu Dhabi, Assistant Commissioner, Customs and Excise, Nurunnahar Lily told online portal BDNews24.

This is one of the biggest seizures of the illegally smuggled precious metal in Bangladesh in recent months, officials said.

We recovered 150 bars of gold, weighing 17.4 kilograms, after searching the air-conditioning panel above the passenger’s seat,” the assistant commissioner said.

The gold bars seized were worth about $1.2 million (100 million taka). We are looking into who is connected with the smuggling of gold, Lily told the news site.

Several such hauls have been made in both Dhaka and Chattagram airports in recent years.

Rising gold price in Bangladesh has led to smuggling attempts from other countries, particularly from the Middle East.