Gold smugglers using sea route to avoid tight airport security

Large quantity of gold is now being smuggled into Bangladesh through sea route as the smugglers have changed their strategy to avert tight security arrangements at the country's airports, intelligence officials said.
The security officials came to know about the new tactics of the smugglers after busting their dens in recent weeks.
According to them, a small portion of illegal consignments of the precious metal now reaches country by air while major portion is smuggled to the neighbouring India through roads, railways and waterways where vigilance of the security forces is comparatively less.
They said members of the international smuggling syndicates anchor ships with large quantity of gold consignments at deep sea in the Bay of Bengal from where local smugglers collect those through lighter vessels, fishing trawlers and boats.
Smuggling syndicates are using Bangladesh as a conduit for smuggling the yellow metal to India, which has hiked import duty on it thrice to 10 per cent since January last year.
This is evident from the recent hauls of smuggled gold by government Railway Police (GRP) that seized 17 kilograms of gold worth around Tk 9.0 million over the last three months.  
When contacted, Officer-in-Charge of Dhaka Railway Thana, Md Abdul Mojid, told about the changed strategy of gold smugglers, saying that they have arrested several carriers of such gold in recent weeks.
Citing confessional statements of the arrested persons, he said after collecting the smuggled gold bars the smugglers divided those into small quantities like 2.0 kgs, 3.0 kgs, 4.0 kgs and 5.0 kgs in the remote areas of Fatikchhari and Hathazari in Chittagong district, Chakaria Upazila and Ramu Upazila of Cox's Bazar district.
Then, the carriers transported those through AC (air conditioned) buses, fish-laden trucks, railways, river channels and domestic flights where security agencies pay comparatively less attention, he said.
The police officer said they raided an AC bus of Dhaka-Chittagong route based on their statements and managed to arrest a person with illegal gold bars.
"Tight security arrangements at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport forced the smugglers to adopt such strategy. I think only 10 per cent gold is now coming through international flights but the rest comes by sea," he said.
Seeking anonymity, a senior officer of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (Detective Branch) said they have intelligence reports that gold smugglers and drug traders are now using luxury AC buses to carry those as such kinds of transportations in most cases remain out of checking considering travel by VIP passengers.
"After receiving the report, we've instructed the police officials concerned to keep close watch on the buses," he said with a suggestion of intensified vigilance by the Coast Guard officials in the Bay.
Talking to the FE, Staff Officer (Intelligence) of Bangladesh Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander M Rajibul Islam said they cannot rule out the possibility of gold smuggling from the deep sea as a key portion of life-threatening drugs comes by sea.
"It's common pattern of smugglers to change their route and strategy to dodge law enforcers and our officers have been put on high alert to keep sea channels free from any criminal activities," he added.
Gold smuggling via Bangladesh has reached an alarming level recently as around 520 kilograms of gold were seized in 2013 followed by 25 kg in 2012, according to customs intelligence unit of the National Board of Revenue.
The seized gold is deposited with the Bangladesh Bank that later sells it on auction. But the central bank didn't hold any auction since 2011.