The Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) has traced as many as 50 syndicate members of 19 gold smuggling channels of Apan Jewellers after confiscating 498 kg gold from five outlets in the capital on Sunday.
The customs authorities have already found two gold manufacturing factories in the city, according to the CIID officials.
They are now hunting for the secret stocks of gold that were imported in the country through illegal channels from the United Arab Emirate, Singapore, Malaysia and some other countries, they said.
The CIID is working to find out secret stocks of the gold targeting the Eid market.
The customs detectives also have special watch in the city’s Gulshan DCC Market, Gulshan Avenue, Uttara, Simanto Square and Mouchak, they said.
The alleged gold smugglers Firoj, Anis, Faruq, Sohel, Sarwar, Wahid, Huda, Awal, Sheikh, Rubel, Razul and Boro Faruk are under the scanner of CIID, they added.
Two cases will be filed against Apan Jewllers in three days on charge of smuggling and tax evasion, Saifur Rahman, Joint Director of the CIID told The New Nation on Monday night.
They own some factories for maufacturing of gold ornament and two of the factoiries were identified, the Joint Director said.
Apan Jewellers’ owner Dildar Ahmed is likely to be arrested in a smuggling case as he could not show any legal documents to the CIID office at Kakrail in the city, the customs official said.
They are trying to unearth the stocks of hidden gold before arresting the owner of Apan Jewllers. That’s why they are taking time to file a case in connection with the gold smugglimg, he said.
On query, he said, “After rounding up the items, the CIID held a hearing on the issue three times to obtain an explanation from Apan Jewellers about how the gold and diamonds were imported.”
According to another sources, the Apan Jewllers did not import a single bar of gold from abroad in the last ten years though it has huge stocks of gold in several outlets in it several outlets.
In this context, the customs detectives have started the investigation into legal papers against the gold stocks. But the authorities concerned failed to show any document papers. It also dodged a huge amount of tax for the import.
But Dilder told the reporters that he was conducting gold business by following all legal process, including paying tax and VAT.
He also claimed that he is not involved in any illegal activities.
