‘Using expats as gold carriers’
With the help of Bangladeshi carriers, who worked in Dubai, an international gold smuggling syndicate has been smuggling gold bars to Bangladesh, found a recent investigation by Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
They came up with the information while investigating a case filed with Patenga Police Station in the port city over recovery of 160 gold bars, found underneath three seats of a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight at Chattogram Shah Amanat International Airport on October 15 in 2020.
CID also arrested three carriers who were directly involved with the syndicate, officials said. They are Helal Uddin, Abul Hossain and Rubel.
Of them, Helal hails from Fatickchhari of Chattogram, Abul from Feni's Chagalnaiya and Rubel from Cox's Bazar.
CID officials said the syndicate members are active in Bangladesh and Dubai.
"Helal carried 40 gold bars out of the 160 from Dubai. While investigating, CID identified Helal first and gleaned information about the syndicate after arresting him on March 4," said Shahnewaz Khaled, special superintendent of police in Chattogram.
"There are 15 members in the group and the syndicate jointly coordinates the gold consignment from Dubai and Bangladesh," he added.
According to his confessional statement (under section 164 of CrPC), Helal (35) said he went to Dubai in 2011 in search of work. Later, he got a job in a company as a labourer.
However, he lost the job after a few years and got involved with the smuggling gang.
He used to carry gold bars with him using various techniques and hand over the bars to Bangladeshi smugglers, according to the confessional statement.
On October 15 last year, Helal hid the gold bars underneath the plane seat using black tape. He escaped arrest during the drive of customs intelligence, said the CID official. "There were four of them in total," he added.
CID sources said Helal and his cohorts did not stop carrying gold bars even after the seizure at the Chattogram airport.
Helal told investigators that he went to Dubai at least four to five times after the October 15 incident and used to carry a small number of bars to avoid arrest and suspicion.
For each consignment, he used to get money for the tickets as well as money for smuggling the gold.
Abul Hossain, another carrier, told investigators that he had traveled to Dubai around 16 times from Bangladesh last year, carrying different amount of gold bars.
"We have got several names and are trying arrest them," said CID official Khaled.
He, however, did not disclose names of the smugglers or any further details for the sake of investigation.
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