Huge amount of gold is coming to Bangladesh from the countries of Middle East, which are being smuggled to India via 30 districts on the border. The local and international smuggling syndicate is using Bangladesh as a transit as they think it as a safe route. Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has disclosed information of losing reserve of $22 million and Tk 10,000 crore of revenue due to the gold smuggling. In this circumstance, the concerned persons have stressed on stopping the gold smuggling to bring back the discipline in the financial sector of the country.
According to them, the gold smuggling is ruining the economy. Hence, there’s no alternative to stop gold smuggling to safeguard the economy. For this, they emphasized on strengthening the vigilance of law enforcing agencies.
They thing, activation of BFIU and strict surveillance by intelligence agencies will be required. Besides, Bangladesh Jewelers Association-Bajus has demanded the formation of a separate government monitoring cell to prevent smuggling.
In this context, the executive director of the private research organization Economic Researcher Group (ERG) and prominent economist Dr. Sajjad Zahir told The Bangladesh Pratidin on Sunday, “The government is being deprived of revenue as a result of gold smuggling. BFIU should tell why this smuggling is happening. People say gold from outside goes beyond. Now action should be taken to the beneficiaries of gold smuggling as smuggling has become a matter of trade.”
The research director of Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS), a state autonomous national research institute Mahfuz Kabir told The Bangladesh Pratidin on Sunday that the current interim government has taken many initiatives to establish good governance in the country. Passenger services at airports have improved. Every day, smuggled gold is siezed at airports. It is sad that gold is being smuggled during the current government. On the other hand, the current government should also take a program to stop gold smuggling so that the jewelery business could run honestly in the country. Those who are smuggling should be punished.
This economist believes that the jewelery industry should be promoted by adding Bajus.
Anwar Hossain, spokesperson and member of the executive committee of Bajus, said that most of the jewelery traders in the country conduct business with honesty and integrity. But the prevailing legal framework is against the jewelery industry. Those who want to do business honestly are facing harsh realities. Although being a policy, its proper implementation is still not done. Our request to the present government: take effective initiative to develop the jewelery industry.
This leader of Bajus demanded an end to gold smuggling and said that to stop money laundering or hundi abroad, gold smuggling must be stopped. For this reason, the government should conduct a combing operation to catch those involved in gold smuggling. Abuse of baggage rules must be stopped. How large foreign gold and diamond ornaments in the country come from, what is the legal source of this gold, whether there are any valid documents— these matters should be investigated.
The latest data of Bangladesh Bank says that expatriates sent remittances of 2.22 billion dollars to the country in August. Earlier last year in August 159 crore 94 million dollar remittances came to the country. Sources say that remittances earned by the blood and sweat of Middle East expatriates are smuggled in exchange for US dollars and enter Bangladesh as illegal gold every day. Large consignments of this gold were re-smuggled to other countries by land and sea routes. Bajus gave the information that Tk 91 thousand crore are smuggled into the country annually as a result of illegal smuggling. On the other hand, the foreign exchange reserves are the most affected due to the continued dollar crisis. As a result, the dollar crisis is not ending. Banks are unable to open LCs on time. Import-export is disrupted.
In this context, the former president of Federation of Bangladesh Industries and Merchants Federation-FBCCI, Abdul Awal Mintu, told The Bangladesh Pratidin that all kinds of smuggling, including gold smuggling, increased as a result of the reserve money coming through the hundi. The concerned law enforcement agencies should investigate why gold and diamonds worth Tk 91 thousand crores are being smuggled on top priority.
The executive director of the private research organization Center for Policy Dialogue-CPD Fahmida Khatun said, “BFIU should be active to catch smugglers. It should also be investigated how gold is smuggled. The ways of smuggled gold is coming to the country should be stopped. There is no substitute for stopping smuggling to bring order to the financial sector.”
Bajus said that the border of 30 districts of Bangladesh is located with the neighboring country India. Among them, 6 districts Meherpur, Kushtia, Chuadanga, Jhenaidah, Jessore and Satkhira of Khulna Division have become safe routes for gold smuggling. A large part of the gold smuggled into India is smuggled through the borders of these districts. Bajus, recommending nabbing the smugglers, said that there is a need for vigorous operation by the law enforcement agencies to nab those involved in gold and diamond smuggling. It is necessary to form a separate government monitoring cell involving Bajus to prevent smuggling of gold and diamonds. According to the data of National Board of Revenue-NBR and Border Guard Bangladesh-BGB, gold worth Tk 101.89 crore was seized in 2023. Between 2014 and 2023, BGB seized 925 kg of gold from border areas. In the last 10 years, Customs Intelligence, Custom House, BGB, Police and Airport APBN conducted raids across the country and seized 2,583 kg of gold. According to BFIU data, if gold had been imported through formal channels during this period, Bangladesh Bank would have accumulated $22 billion in reserves, from which government revenue would have been around Tk 10,000 crore. According to the statistics of Dhaka Customs House, only through Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, 2.775 tons in 2020, 25.689 tons in 2021, 35.733 tons in 2022 and 31.468 tons in 2023 were imported under baggage rule. According to customs data, 2 kg 160 grams of diamonds were imported in four consignments for industrial use from 2020 to 2022. However, no diamond ornaments were imported. Rather, illegal diamonds are coming to the country. The main reason behind this is to evade the tax. In the last 19 years, the government has received a revenue of only Tk 12 crore from the import of this precious gem. It is estimated that the country's diamond market is about Tk 11 thousand crore. Bajus feels that law enforcement agencies need a strong role to quickly identify those involved in diamond smuggling. Section 2 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act considers smuggling of gold as an offense related to money laundering. The law provides for imprisonment up to 12 years and a fine of Tk 20 (twenty) lakhs. But in reality, the mastermind of the crime remains hidden and the smaller cheaters are caught. But even in that case, the comparatively less influential criminals are being released on bail because of the law. As a result, smuggling is going on at its own pace.
(The report was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on September 23 and rewritten in English by Lutful Hoque Khan)
