According to a report published in daily sun yesterday, smuggling of gold and foreign currencies are rampant in the country. And the smugglers are using Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, the only international airport of the country, as the corridor for their illicit trade, in most instances involving transit passengers. It is worrisome that though the law enforcers arrested many smugglers with large hauls of gold and foreign currencies at the airport over the last few months, the smuggling could not be stopped as the kingpins remained out of reach.

Members of the Armed Police Battalion at Shahjalal Airport arrested one Mizanur Rahman Ripon who returned from Singapore, with 400 grams of gold and electronic appliances, including 52 cameras, 43 mobile-phone sets, eight tabs and a laptop worth Tk 70 lakh last Friday. Earlier on July 6, customs officials seized gold bars weighing 25.3 kg and worth around Tk 9 crore from a toilet of an airbus of Biman Bangladesh Airlines. However, law enforcers are still in the dark about the persons behind the large-scale smuggling. Allegations are there that the smugglers have connections with some corrupt officials of the Civil Aviation Bangladesh (CAB) and they are doing the tour de force in connivance with them. The law-enforcing agencies have managed to unearth a few of the smuggling incidents as many dishonest officials of the customs authorities and the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) allegedly have a nexus with the smuggling rackets.

Therefore, while the authorities have to nab the masterminds behind the smuggling, the corrupt employees of the CAB must be brought to book. Any leniency showed in this regard would only encourage the perpetrators to continue the crime. We believe that our law enforcing agencies have the ability to trace the masterminds behind the smuggling business. What is needed now is their honest intention and firm determination to curb the crime. - See more at: http://www.daily-sun.com/details_Smuggling-of-gold-and-foreign-currency-by-air_564_2_5_1_3.html#sthash.H3PWlBRM.dpuf