Gold smuggling - a potential threat to national security

There has been a rise in the seizure of gold consignments over the last two years. Recently, the customs officials seized 106 kilogrammes (kg) of gold stashed in the toilets of a Biman flight at Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka. It was the third-largest seizure of gold in Bangladesh. Customs officials made the biggest-ever haul of gold on July 24 last year when they seized 124 kg gold worth Tk 540 million at the same airport. The second-largest haul of gold was on March 25 this year, when the customs officials seized 107 kg of gold at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong. Around 520 kg of gold was seized last year compared to only 25 kg in the previous year, according to the customs intelligence unit of the National Board of Revenue (NBR). According to its information, at least 220 kg of gold has been seized at Dhaka and Chittagong airports in the first three months this year.
The demand for gold is not so high in our internal market. We have nearly ten thousand gold and jewellery shops, and we can fulfill our demand with the gold sent by the Bangladeshi immigrants. The question that naturally comes to mind: why is such  big amount of gold coming into the country? It may be because Bangladesh is being used as a transit point to smuggle gold to India, where the tax on gold is around 11 per cent. In Bangladesh, an 11.6 gram gold bar has a tax liability of Tk 150, whereas the same bar in India would be taxed with Tk 4000. India in January last year hiked its import duty on gold by 10 per cent. This may be the reason why the smugglers have chosen Bangladesh as a transit route.
The persons who are arrested at different times for allegedly being involved in gold smuggling have said the international gold smugglers are using Bangladesh as a transit route to send gold to the Indian market. From Bangladesh gold is transported to India in small amounts through different border areas. In India, gold has a vibrant market and the smuggling of nearly 90 per cent of gold through Bangladesh is made for the Indian market. Another reason for smuggling may be the price difference. Profit-making motive of some quarters may also prompt it.
Gold is mainly coming to Bangladesh from the Middle East, Malaysia or Singapore. The price of gold is considerably high in Bangladesh compared to the prices in these countries.
Recently, the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) has got information about thirteen groups, which are directly linked with gold smuggling through Bangladesh. Some unscrupulous customs officials, staff of the Civil Aviation Authority and security agencies are allegedly linked with these groups. It is not possible to transport gold from Bangladesh to India without the help of a section of officials and staff concerned because gold is smuggled in a meticulously planned way.  In a recent case, an assistant aircraft mechanic of Biman Bangladesh Airlines has been arrested in connection with the haul of smuggled gold. Generally, the persons who carry gold are arrested, but the main culprits or gang leaders remain elusive. Given this fact, it becomes quite difficult for the law-enforcement agencies to trace out the main gangs behind the smuggling.
Gold smuggling is an organised crime, and transnational in nature. In different stages, different groups or individuals enter the scene to transport smuggled gold from one place to another. The transnational organised crime involves two or more countries. In the transnational organised crime, there are three stages. The first one is source, the second one is transit and the final stage is the destination. In gold smuggling to Bangladesh, the source may be the Middle Eastern countries, Malaysia or Singapore, the transit is Bangladesh and the final destination is India.
Gold smuggling is a transnational crime. In order to prevent it, we need regional cooperation. We need to identify the main gangs behind the smuggling. Otherwise, it will continue, and at one stage may create threat to our national security. Because gold smuggling might have a linkage with terrorist activities as gold is used as a means of transaction. Again, there might be a possibility of connections between gold smugglers and drug runners. The drug smugglers may use the same routes as those used by the gold smugglers as transit. All these factors may impact on national security. We should take the menace seriously, and immediate actions are needed to curb it.
The writer is an MSS student,              Dept. of International                       Relations, University of Dhaka.      [email protected]