Bangladesh becoming gold smuggling hub for Mideast gold: officials

Bangladesh has seen a huge leap in gold smuggling to neighboring India, the customs intelligence chief said. Mainul Hossain Khan said his team was catching gold smugglers red-handed every day at the country’s two international airports, with bullion brought in mainly from the Middle East and believed destined for India. They had seized 623 kilograms of gold since July 2013, up from just 15 kilograms over the whole of the previous five years, he said. “Gold seizures in the airports have become a daily affair,” Khan told AFP, saying that only that day his team had found 27 gold bars hidden in a microwave oven.