Gold under wig!
Customs officials have often busted smugglers at the airport with gold bars stashed in unlikely places. But never have they caught someone with bars under a wig.
To hoodwink the authorities, Aminul Haq, 45, of Munshiganj, attached 13 bars, weighing about one and a half kg, to his wig.
Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) officials could catch him on Tuesday at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka as they had received a tip off.
Soon after he arrived at the airport around 10:30pm, officials intercepted him as he was crossing the green channel, CIID Assistant Commissioner HM Ahsanul Kabir told The Daily Star.
They then frisked him but could not find the gold, he said, adding that the gold was detected in his body when he walked through an archway scanner.
The bars were discovered when he was frisked again.
The estimated price of the gold is Tk 65 lakh, the official claimed.
Aminul was handed over to police.
Gold smuggling has seen a sharp rise in recent years due to outdated laws and high taxes. It also led the country's jewelry business to rely heavily on smuggled gold.
According to CIID, different agencies seized over 2,000kg of gold in the last three years.
However, the actual amount smuggled into the country remains unknown as different government agencies have different guesstimates.
According to officials, a small portion of the smuggled gold feeds local demand while the rest is smuggled to neighbouring India.
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