320 gold bars seized at Dhaka airport

Less than two weeks after the seizure of about 200 gold bars, police at Bangladesh's main airport in capital Dhaka Tuesday morning again seized 320 gold bars weighing about 37 kg from a plane arriving from Doha in Qatar, an official said.

"We've seized 320 gold bars worth about 159 million taka (about $2 million)," Alamgir Hossain, in charge of Airport Armed Police Battalion, told Xinhua.

He said the gold bars were seized from a Qatar Airways flight that had landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at around 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Hossain said the gold bars were found under two seats in the aircraft.

No one was arrested in connection with the seizure as the culprit involved in the smuggling managed to escape the scene, he added.

Hossain said a Sri Lankan cabin crew informed authorities, suspecting the packets to be a bomb.

Customs officials in the airport had Oct 30 seized 24 gold bars from an arriving passenger from Saudi Arabia.

A day earlier, they seized 146 gold bars weighing about 17 kg shortly after the arrival of a flight from Hong Kong at the same airport.

Sources said most of the time only the carriers are being caught, but the real smugglers remain behind the scene.

They said organised gangs of local smugglers having links with foreign associates were increasingly using Bangladesh as a route for illegal transportation of gold, foreign currencies, contraband drugs and medicines.