bdnews24.com :Government agencies have seized 719 kg gold from the Dhaka airport in a year, Finance Minister AMA Muhith has told Parliament.He revealed the figure while answering to a query from Jatiya Party lawmaker MA Hannan on Saturday.He said the Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation seized some 324.30 kg gold at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in 52 cases of seizure in 2014-15 fiscal year (FY).Another 166.57 kg of gold was seized at the same place in 47 cases registered by the Customs House, he said.The minister said 228.38 kg of gold was confiscated during the same period as against 541 departmental cases.Replying to another query, he said 1,793.72 kg of gold was seized in the last five years and kept in Bangladesh Bank’s custody.He said, the gold was auctioned and the money was deposited to the treasury once the state got verdict in its favour in the cases over the confiscations.”The import tax on gold was higher in India. Bangladesh may be used as a transit route for smuggling the metal to India,” he said explaining the reasons behind rise in smuggling. “The smuggling is increasing as the price of gold is less abroad. Black-money is used to smuggle gold after monitoring against money laundering became stringent.”The smuggling might also be done to meet the internal demands, he said.
