No case sees verdict

Court officials cannot tell when a gold smuggler was punished last time. What they can tell though that there is no such instance in the past 10 years. This, they say, has contributed to the recent surge in the smuggling of the yellow metal.

In the last four years, some 158 cases have been filed against over 200 people, mostly carriers, in the capital alone. But not a single case has seen the verdict, police and court sources said.

Filed under the non-bailable section of the Special Powers Act of 1974, the cases are either under trial or are being investigated. The charges carry life sentence and fine in maximum punishment.

Charge sheets of cases under this law must be submitted within 60 days from the date of filing. And the trial, in Sessions Judge's Court, must be completed in 360 days from the day it opens. But neither the police nor the court can finish the job within the stipulated time. The law is mum on such failures.

Lawyers dealing the cases blame investigating officers' apathy for the slow progress. They say trial should not take more than six months given these cases have only eight to ten witnesses.

"But the investigating officers show little interest to produce witnesses during hearing. So, the court shifts the dates," said one lawyer, preferring anonymity.

Gold smuggling in the country has seen an alarming rise over the last two years. Detectives say transnational syndicates are using Bangladesh as a route to smuggle gold into India.

Almost every week in the past two years, customs officials seized smuggled gold at Dhaka and Chittagong airports.

The highest volume of seizure took place at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, where at least 120 incidents of gold haul happened in the last one year alone. During the period, customs officials and law enforcers seized more than 1,000kg gold worth around Tk 450 crore from various airports and other places.

Most of those arrested over the smuggling are carriers, who work as mediums. They know only two persons -- the one who hands him the consignment, an air ticket and some money and the person receiving the package, investigators say.

Often, the carters do not know what they are carrying or even the names of the two persons he deals with. So when they get caught, they cannot give any important information to police about the smugglers. Eventually, they come out of jail with the syndicates remaining always out of reach.

Only recently, detectives arrested a few big shots directly involved with gold smuggling, and got some names of local and international smugglers from them.

Asked, an investigator at the Airport Police Station said none of the cases was settled as the accused and their patrons managed to have the hearing dates deferred on different pleas. Sometimes, prosecution lawyers also submit time petitions.

Shah Alam, officer-in-charge of the station, said it often took time to find witnesses and enough evidence, causing delay in the trial.

The airport police are investigating around 70 percent of the total cases while detectives the rest.

Alam said they pressed charges in a number of cases and hoped to see some of the smugglers get punished.

DEPARTMENTAL CASES

Police cases apart, customs officials file departmental cases under when they recover abandoned gold. The probe, done by customs officials, aims to track down the smugglers.

In the last one year, customs officials in Dhaka filed around 30 departmental cases over the recovery of about 100kg gold, said Joint Commissioner of Customs Kazi Muhammad Ziauddin.

In Chittagong, customs officials seized 268kg gold in the first seven months of last year in 136 incidents, over which the department filed 14 police cases against 122 departmental ones.

In some cases, customs officials hand over the gold to its claimer after collecting tax and a nominal fine under the customs law and NBR rules, sources said.

A section of unscrupulous customs officials enter underhand dealings for the handover, an allegation customs officials refute.

Sometimes powerful syndicate members make government high-ups call customs officials to yield the gold to its claimer, an investigator said.

Moinul Khan, director general of customs intelligence unit of National Board of Revenue (NBR), said his unit seized 722kg smuggled gold in 71 incidents in the last 18 months. They filed 70 cases against 92 people in these connections.

Only one incident in which 43kg gold was recovered recently is under departmental probe.

Asked if there was any link between departmental cases and rewards for officials, he said there was no scope of getting reward until the case is disposed of.

Under customs rules, officials concerned get cash reward worth 10 percent of the recovered gold.

"We are driven by our responsibility. We know gold and currency smuggling has indirect relations with other crimes. The seizure of such huge volume of gold indicates we are working tirelessly,” the NBR official said.

He cited an example of a case filed in 1996 over seizure of gold worth about Tk 2 crore. He claimed he was yet to be rewarded for the seizure.

Joint Commissioner of customs Kazi Muhammad Ziauddin said, "We do not work for reward. I was posted at the [Dhaka] airport customs six months ago, I got no reward."

A police official said the customs took one and a half years to file a police case over the recovery of 124kg gold on July 24, 2013.

"Considering the volume, a police case should have been filed. A criminal investigation should have been done by skilled police officials to find out the culprits," he said.