Despite several initiatives of the law enforcers, gold smuggling is on the rise along India-Bangladesh border in recent years. Members of Border Guard (BGB) Bangladesh seized more than 500kg of gold in last four years.
According to the Border Guard Bangladesh headquarters, 530kg kilograms of gold were seized between January 2018 and December 2022, and 200 suspects arrested in 188 cases.
Most of those seizures took place along the country's south-western borders, especially in Jashore, Satkhira, Chuadanga, Jhenaidah and Chapainawabganj, the BGB said.
Gold worth at least Tk 200 crore every day and Tk 73,000 crore
every year is smuggled into Bangladesh, according to Bangladesh Jewellers' Association (Bajus).
'India has a huge demand for gold. A significant amount of the gold bought from abroad is smuggled to India. Our government is thus facing a two-pronged problem. The first is that we are losing revenue and the second is that dollars are used to purchase the gold abroad,' said an intelligence official in Dhaka.
Members of Border Guard Bangladesh seized 17 gold bars weighing 1.98kg from Pachvulot border of Jashore's Sharsha upazila on January 7,
Lt Col Tanveer Ahmed, Commanding Officer of BGB-21 battalion, said tipped off that gold was being smuggled to India, a team of BGB conducted a drive in Bottola area at noon.
Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, two smugglers riding on a motorcycle fled the scene leaving behind two bags and the BGB team recovered the gold bars worth Tk 1.5 crore from the bags, said Tanveer Ahmed. He said they are trying to arrest the two smugglers.
On September 17, last, the BGB arrested an alleged gold carrier, Hridoy Hossain, with 20 gold bars weighing 2.33kg from Benapole in Jashore.
On September 27, last year the Bangladesh border force arrested Sakib Hossain, just a 19-year-old adolescent, at Sharsha border in Jessore and found 10 gold bars in a manure bag he was carrying.
On October 16, last year it arrested Shamim-Ul Islam, 40, son of late Sajedul Islam, a resident of Gerakhali village in Kalaroa upazila, with four gold bars weighing 506 grams engaged in an alleged act of gold smuggling in Binerpota area in Satkhira.
The Dhaka Customs House in its latest statistics said they seized 1,010.71 kg of gold between January 2021 and June 2022.
However, gold traders think that it is not possible to stop smuggling only by the enforcement of laws. They said the country's law enforcement forces are active, but their capacity needs to be enhanced.
They suggested stricter legislation to stop smuggling and the formation of an anti-gold smuggling cell involving all law enforcement agencies as well as Bajus.
In such a situation, the country's law enforcement agencies such as the Customs have to launch a vigorous campaign against smugglers to reduce the volatility of the gold market. Apart from this, the Bajus leaders called for ensuring the punishment of smugglers.
A senior officer of BGB, on condition of anonymity, told the Daily Observer that BGB is always trying to prevent smuggling to protect the border. After being caught gold smugglers change tactics, create new routes. Their profit in business is high so they also take risk. Still BGB is working.
