Smugglers within

At least 272 Biman officials and staff are involved in gold smuggling through three international airports of Bangladesh, according to an intelligence report.

Thirty syndicates are behind this illegal business. Several staffers of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh are also a party.

The Biman employees include five pilots, four co-pilots, 25 cabin crews, 15 flight stewards, seven junior pursers, three flight pursers and five chief pursers, said the report, obtained by The Daily Star.

An intelligence agency recently submitted the report to the Prime Minister's Office. The report was forwarded it to the home ministry on December 18, asking the ministry to take action against those involved.

The report said 44 officials, including two pilots and 34 cabin crews of the national flag carrier, fled the country after five people were arrested over gold smuggling on November 18 last year.

Three of the five are Biman top dogs. They are Captain Abu Mohammad Aslam Shaheed, chief of planning and scheduling, Emdad Hossain, deputy general manager (flight services), and Tozammel Hossain, manager (scheduling).

The absence of the 44 officials badly affected flight operations and tarnished the government's image abroad, the report added.

Asked about this, Biman General Manager of Public Relations Khan Musharraf Hossain said none of their employees fled the country.

The cabin crews were posted outside the country at the time of the November 18 arrests, he said, adding, "It's not right to call them fugitives."

This newspaper could not verify either claim fully, but found several Biman employees stopped coming to work.

According to the report, about 80 percent of the gold smugglers in the country are based in the port city.

Gold enters Bangladesh directly from Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Oman or via Singapore or Malaysia. But Bangladesh is not the final destination -- it is only a route to smuggle the yellow metal via land ports to India, where gold is used particularly in weddings and religious festivals.

Unscrupulous Biman officials get Tk 1,000 to 1,500 for each 10-tola bar of gold to pass through the airport.

Of the 30 syndicates involved, 23 operate inside the country and the rest from outside. The gold is smuggled through Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Shah Amanat International Airport and Osmani International Airport.

Of the 23 syndicates at home, 11 are directly involved in gold smuggling and 12 are smuggling gold with money exchange as front business.

And of the 11 directly involved, seven are active at Shahjalal International Airport, three at Shah Amanat International Airport and one at Osmani International Airport.

The syndicates are backed by some political leaders and top officials in the police and Border Guard Bangladesh, the report said.

"They are so powerful that they always remain beyond the reach of law enforcement agencies," said a detective who deals with gold smuggling cases.

Intelligence officials, investigators and gold traders said a section of law enforcers and security agencies was part of these syndicates.

In all, some 5,000 people are involved in the illicit business as facilitators, middlemen or carriers. They are located in the capital, Chittagong and different bordering districts, including Satkhira, Jessore, Jhenidah, Kushtia and Chuadanga.

In recent months, detectives and customs officials arrested at least four suspected syndicate members from the capital. Of them, Sheikh Md Ali used sweetmeat trade as cover while Saleh Ahmed, Nazrul Islam Liton and Shamsuddin used money exchange business, according to the report.

Usually, the syndicates use Biman flights for smuggling because its aircraft are kept at the airport in Dhaka longer and are often taken to the hangars for maintenance, allowing them sufficient time to offload gold.

In some recent large hauls, 124kg, 105kg and 32kg of smuggled gold was found in hidden places and chambers of Biman aircraft, just like yesterday's haul.

Earlier in October last year, the National Board of Revenue found 14 people, including 10 staff of Biman's engineering section and an Indian and a Nepali citizen, involved in the smuggling of 124kg of gold in 2013.

Biman's newly appointed Managing Director Kyle Heywood said, "The authorities and the airline will swiftly take all necessary action against any individual responsible when it has been proven that inappropriate and illegal activity has taken place."

But he would not elaborate on the matter as it is being investigated.

According to the intelligence report, infighting between smugglers is the reason behind the frequent gold seizures at airports of late.