6,052 kg gold seized in 9 yrs: Home Minister

Some 6,052 kg illegal gold were seized in the last nine years of the Awami League government, according to a statistics placed in Parliament on Sunday.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan placed the statistics while responding to a starred question from Tarikat Federation MP MA Awal (Laxmipur-1).

A total of 4,130.425 kg of illegally imported gold were seized during the two regimes of the present government (from 2009 to 2017) by different agencies of International Resources Division, including three customs houses in Dhaka, Chittagong and Benapole, Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate, and Customs, Excise and VAT Commissionerate 

The minister said the seized gold was deposited temporarily to the Bangladesh Bank and those will be confiscated and deposited permanently to the central bank following the disposal of cases filed in this regard.

Besides, police seized gold bars and ornaments weighing a total of 1,718.62 kg from different places across the country from 2009 to 2017, while Border Guard Bangladesh seized a total of 203.756 km gold from 2011 to 2017.

In reply to another starred question from Jatiya Party MP AKM Mayeedul Islam (Kurigram), the Home Minister said now 85,486 foreigners are working in Bangladesh as per the statistics collected from the Special Branch of police.

Of them, 67,853 foreigners work as business owners, 8,300 as experts, 3,682 as officers, 2,105 as players/sports organisers, 922 as capital investors, 804 as personal staff, 727 as equipment technical personnel, 561 as NGO personnel, 400 for research and training purpose and 132 as holiday workers.

Of them, the highest 35,386 are Indians while 13,268 are from China, 4,093 from Japan, 3,395 from South Korea, 3,080 from Malaysia, 3,077 from Sri Lanka, 2,284 from Thailand, 1,804 from the UK and 1,448 are US nationals.

Source: unb