Customs authorities seized $38,000 from an Indian High Commission official in Bangladesh when he allegedly tried to take out the greenbacks illegally by using diplomatic immunity, officials said.
Armed police and customs officials at the airport challenged Sandipan Bhattacharya at the anti-trafficking point in the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport area as he, along with his wife, was trying to leave Dhaka for Kolkata by an Indian Airlines flight on Thursday night.
Joint Commissioner of Dhaka Customs House Kazi Muhammad Ziauddin told The Financial Express that, having been challenged, he identified himself as a visa officer at the Indian HC in Dhaka.
"Later, he admitted having possessed the amount. He was carrying the money in a schoolbag," Ziauddin said.
"As he is a diplomat, we, in consultation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), let him go. But, due to unavailability of documents, customs authority seized the money," he added.
According to customs authorities, the customs did not allow the visa official to take the money for not having necessary documents, despite MOFA request.
Though he did not declare the amount before the immigration authority, later, being challenged, he said the money he (Sandipan) was carrying is from his and his wife's earnings.
As per Sandipan Bhattacharya's statement, Ziauddin said, his wife is a faculty of the American International University of Bangladesh.
However, he could not name his wife teaching at the AIUB.
Contacted, AIUB authorities said a Godhuli Bhattacharya is working as part-time faculty at the School of Arts and Social Science, who is an Indian citizen.
According to AIUB website, Godhuli Bhattacharya studied in Kalyani University situated in Nadia district of West Bengal, India.
"We are not sure whether she is wife of any Indian High Commission official or not, but we heard her husband works as a diplomat," an AIUB director told the FE.
On March 05, Bangladeshi customs authorities seized nearly 27kg gold, worth about $1.7m, from a North Korean diplomat at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
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