Tk16.3cr gold bars seized at HSIA

Customs officials have recovered 80 gold bars hidden inside the shoes of two workers at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka. The gold weighed 9.34kg and had an estimated market value of Tk16.25 crore.

The Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) recovered the gold during a search of an Emirates flight from Dubai on Sunday morning.

Acting on a tip-off, CIID officials took position at the airport and searched the two workers while the flight was at the apron area below Boarding Bridge 4 near Gate 21 at around 9:30am.

The workers, identified as Md Manik Mia and Md Mizanur Rahman, work as Aircraft Technical Helpers (ATH) for Emirates.

Officials found 80 gold bars hidden inside their shoes. Each bar weighed around 117 grams.

NBR official Md Al Amin Sheikh confirmed the seizure. The CIID is investigating who was behind the attempt to smuggle the gold, where it came from and who was supposed to receive it.
The agency said legal action would be taken in the case.

The seizure came hours after another gold recovery at the same airport.

At around 1:45am on Sunday, Dhaka Customs House recovered 4.5kg of gold from the body of a passenger arriving on a Malaysia Airlines flight. The estimated market value of that gold was around Tk8 crore.