Gold consignments worth billions of takas continue to be seized at Bangladesh’s international airports. Hundreds of criminal cases have been filed over the past five years. Yet investigators rarely reach the people believed to be orchestrating the lucrative smuggling networks.
In most cases, those arrested are couriers or lower-level airport and airline employees allegedly used to move the gold through the system. The financiers, organisers and masterminds behind the operations, however, remain largely beyond the reach of law enforcement.
Police and customs officials say the highly organised nature of the trade, involving multiple handovers from one person to another, makes it extremely difficult to identify those at the top of the network. As a result, while seizures continue to increase, convictions of the alleged kingpins remain rare.
According to police data, gold worth nearly Tk47 billion was seized at airports across Bangladesh between 2021 and May 2026. More than 540 cases were registered at Airport Police Station in Dhaka alone. Yet authorities are unable to say how many of those cases ultimately led to convictions of the people directing the smuggling operations.
The latest seizure came on Monday, when authorities seized around 2.16 kilograms of gold worth an estimated Tk3.56 crore from a passenger at Chattogram’s Shah Amanat International Airport.
Earlier, on 28 March, authorities seized 18 kilograms of gold bars worth approximately Tk470 million from the lavatory of another Dubai-bound flight. Once again, investigators failed to identify those behind the shipment.
Officer-in-Charge of Airport Police Station Kamrul Hasan Talukder told TIMES of Bangladesh that although cases are filed with the police station, investigations are carried out by different police units. “Smuggled gold changes hands several times before reaching its destination, making it difficult to identify the principal offenders,” he said.
He said 50 gold smuggling cases are currently under investigation, including 42 being handled by Airport Police and eight by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). The CID is also investigating another 16 cases through its district and specialised units.
The people who get caught
Investigators say gold smuggling through airports relies on a chain of insiders at different stages of airport operations.
According to officials involved in multiple investigations, flight crew members allegedly collect gold from passengers during flights and hide it in secret compartments or personal lockers inside the aircraft.
The consignments are then removed with the help of corrupt Aviation Security (AVSEC) personnel, boarding bridge operators, cleaners, ground service staff, or employees working in the cargo and flight catering divisions.
Investigators stress, however, that these individuals are often facilitators rather than the organisers of the operation.
While they physically move the consignments, the people financing and directing the smuggling networks generally remain unidentified.
Punishment rarely reaches the top
Dhaka Customs House Additional Commissioner Kamrul Hasan said one cabin crew member of an airline was sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment after being convicted of gold smuggling.
The CID has also confiscated assets worth Tk100 million allegedly acquired through gold smuggling, while a Biman Bangladesh Airlines aircraft was once seized over allegations that it had been used to transport smuggled gold before later being released.
According to Biman Bangladesh Airlines, investigations have been conducted against 92 employees and 16 flight pursers over allegations of involvement in gold smuggling. Many of those found guilty, however, received administrative penalties including reprimands, suspension of annual increments or demotions and later returned to work.
US-Bangla Airlines said one of its cabin crew members has remained in prison for nearly nine years in connection with a gold smuggling case, but maintained that no employee has been implicated since 2019.
Bangladesh as a transit hub
Forensic reports and investigations by law enforcement agencies indicate that gold originating in Dubai, Singapore, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia is frequently brought into Bangladesh before being smuggled onward into India.
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has intercepted numerous consignments along the frontier, recovering more than 72 kilograms of smuggled gold between 2021 and 2025.
Additional Commissioner Kamrul Hasan said consignments are usually intercepted only when authorities receive prior intelligence. “If there is no advance information, it becomes extremely difficult to stop the shipment,” he said.
Smuggling methods evolve, the networks survive
Authorities have intercepted gold concealed inside vacuum cleaners, electric motors, trolley handles, wheelchairs, shoes, belt buckles, shirt collars, soap cases and sound system adapters.
Other cases have involved gold hidden inside medicine containers, laptop batteries and even inside the human body.
Smugglers have also disguised gold bars with black or silver coatings or worn them as ordinary jewellery.
While the methods continue to evolve, investigators say one pattern remains unchanged: the people caught are usually the couriers or lower-level facilitators, while the alleged masterminds behind Bangladesh’s multi-billion-taka gold smuggling networks continue to evade justice.
