Beefed-up vigil helps slash seizure of smuggled items

Seizure of almost all the smuggled items, including gold, decreased in the last financial year as smugglers had brought in less volume of the precious items in the face of strong vigilance by the law enforcers, officials said.
According to official data, seizure of gold, foreign currencies and electronic goods -the three most valuable and largely smuggled items decreased by 29 per cent, 19 per cent and 85 per cent respectively during the period.
Cumulative value of the total seized good in the last fiscal was Tk2.75 billion, which was Tk5.64 billion in the corresponding period-a decrease of 51 per cent on total seizures. 
Chief of the Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation (CIID) Dr Mainul Khan said smugglers are now bringing in goods on a limited scale in the face of the law enforcers' strict monitoring.
"We've zero tolerance against smuggling, which forced smugglers to become less active," he added.
"We have seized a record amount of gold and other goods in fiscal year (FY) 2013-14 and continuation of our stronger efforts has lessened the illegal activities in the just concluded FY," Dr Khan said.
According to the CIID, his office has handed over a good number of smugglers, including close relatives of top officials of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, to the law enforcement agencies on charge of smuggling.
"We did not even spare the political musclemen in this regard, which has started giving dividend. If we can continue our strict vigilance, we believe the illegal activities will significantly go down shortly," he added.
However, another high official of the intelligence department preferring anonymity said though the activities seem to have decreased, the amount of total seizure is still significant.
"We have seized 363.586 kilograms of gold in the last FY. It is less than that of the FY 2013-14, but still it is many times higher than that of the gold seized from FY 2004-05 to 2012-13," he added.
Replying to a question, he said smugglers are frequently changing their techniques of illegal activities in terms of items, port, time and others.
"Smugglers even bring in gold under cover of pen. It means they are frequently changing their techniques of import to escape vigilance," he added.
 Meanwhile, according to the department, although seizure of the items like gold, foreign currencies has decreased, some other items like contraband medicines and cigarettes have increased slightly during the period.  
The department during the period seized contraband medicines worth Tk 67.5 million, which was Tk27.9 million a year ago and cigarettes worth Tk32.4 million against Tk30.6 million in the corresponding period.
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