Free rein for gold smugglers in Jhenaidah

Since he was recruited as a carrier about six months ago, Sohel (real name withheld) transported smuggled golds on his motorbike from Jashore to Jhenaidah's Maheshpur border at least 27 times.

He was arrested by local police in January but came out of jail within weeks.

Ever since, police never stopped him as his bike's registration number was passed on to the local police as part of the deal with smuggling kingpins, Sohel told The Daily Star during a recent visit to the area.

The now slain Jhenaidah MP Anwarul Azim Anar is said to have invented this system, known as "token system," for easy movement of smuggled gold.  

Secrecy in this gold smuggling operations is of utmost importance. So carriers like Sohel do not even know the names of their recruiters as well as the consignment receivers at the border.

"For the job, I would receive a monthly salary of Tk 40,000, no matter how many consignments I carried. However, the delivery operations remain suspended for the last few weeks," said Sohel, also a support staffer at a Jashore madrasa.

According to him, there are dozens of carriers like him whose only job is to pick up consignments from Jashore or other nearby districts and drop them off at Maheshpur border.

"We don't have to do anything. The smuggling syndicate members do all the job," he said.

According to intelligence and police sources, about 40 bikers are engaged in carrying consignments to Jashore and Jhenidah borders.

"We deliver the consignment to a designated place at the border, where another carrier receives it. The consignment is then smuggled into India considering the border security situation," a second carrier said.

According to him, the carriers at the border who smuggle the gold into India get Tk 1 to Tk 2 lakh, depending on the consignment size.

Most carriers have gone into hiding after Bangladesh and Indian police opened an investigation into the murder mystery surrounding Jhenaidah-4 MP Anwarul Azim Anar in Kolkata, although a number of consignments crossed into India in recent days, according to sources. 

Azim was one of the influential kingpins who used to control the smuggling racket since Maheshpur became a safe gateway, as parts of its border with India have no fence, according to four carriers, three local elected representatives and an intelligence source.

AZIM: INVENTOR OF TOKEN SYSTEM

Gold smuggling through this border has been taking place for the last four to five decades, with Azim assuming a leading role about 10 years ago, they said.

But long before that, he started smuggling gold into India through a group of bikers in 1986, when he was a student and actively involved with the Purbo Banglar Communist Party, according to an intelligence source.

Over time, he came up with the idea of recruiting salaried carriers and introducing a token system for law enforcers, the intelligence source adds.

The token system works as a gate pass: when carriers produce it, law enforcers do not "disturb" them. In exchange, the law enforcers get a "handsome cut".

Abul Kalam Azad, chairman of Barobazar Union Parishad, said he is aware of the token system.

"Law enforcers would not stop the bike once you showed the token. But those days are gone now that we have declared a war against smuggling," he told The Daily Star.

According to the intelligence source, Azad was once part of Azim's racket, an allegation Azad forcefully rejected.

"I am not involved with gold smuggling," he said, even before this newspaper could finish asking him the question about his link.

Mahbubur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Maheshpur Police Station, denied having any facilitating role in the smuggling operations.

"We do not know about any token system. Police along with the Border Guard Bangladesh are working round the clock to stop all sorts of smuggling, including gold," he said.

A HOTSPOT

A senior police official in the district admitted that Maheshpur is a hotspot for smuggling gold into India. "But we often cannot take action as public representatives are involved."

According to police sources, smuggled gold enters Bangladesh mainly from Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Singapore and Malaysia through Dhaka, Sylhet and Chattogram airports.

A significant portion of the gold is then smuggled into India through Chuadanga, Jashore and Jhenaidah borders, with Jhenidah's Matila border point being one of the most preferred routes. Sometimes, the racket uses rail routes as well, police sources said.

Instead of directly smuggling gold into India from other countries, smugglers use Bangladesh as a transit route as both the legal system and payment method involving gold are stricter in the neighbouring country.

MASTERMIND UNTOUCHED

Over the years, police and BGB members seized some gold consignments and arrested some carriers, but the masterminds have always remained untouched.

Any information leak, even the possibility of it, can lead to murders.

On January 17 this year, two men were shot dead in Baghadanga village of Maheshpur following a dispute over a gold consignment.

According to police and local journalists, the killings are linked to a gold consignment weighing 4.66 kilograms.

The 58 BGB battalion seized the consignment in the morning and the duo was killed in the afternoon. It later emerged that the consignment's owner fled to India after the incident.

OC Mahbubur Rahman said an investigation into the matter is underway.

Local BGB seized around 38.4 kgs of gold in 2022, around 37.56 kgs in 2023, and 27 kgs in the first three months of this year.

At least 30 people were arrested in connection with the seizures and 25 cases were filed, but police could not track down a single mastermind in any of the cases.

Incidents of any gold carriers facing punishments are also rare. In the last 10 years, only two carriers have been handed a one-year jail term and a fine of Tk 50,000 each.

Lt Col Shah Md Azizush Shahid, commander of the Maheshpur 58 BGB battalion, said that in most cases, they can only arrest the carriers.

"We cannot track down the mastermind as we are not an investigation agency. We simply hand the arrestees over to the police, who carry out the probe," he said.