Bangla gold, silver seizures point to bigger plot

Kolkata: Back to back seizures of gold biscuits and a huge quantity of silver ornaments by the Border Security Force (BSF) over the last two days has got officials wondering whether there is more to it than mere smuggling. On Monday, BSF troops stopped a vehicle moving towards the Indo-Bangladesh border near Swarupnagar in North 24 Parganas and seized nearly 26.9 kg silver ornaments from the vehicle.

The two suspected smugglers Sadam Hussain Molla and Amirul Mistry succeeded in escaping after a mob gathered at the Hakimpur check post, nearly 600 metres from the International Border (IB).

On Sunday, BSF troops seized six gold biscuits weighing nearly 699.10 grams from one Alamin Mondal in the Krishnanagar Sector in Nadia. While the silver is valued at nearly Rs 9.89 lakh, the gold biscuits are worth nearly Rs 34.25 lakh. While there seems to be no connection between the two incidents, several agencies are trying to find out the true motive behind smuggling out silver ornaments from India and bringing in gold. The BSF seized nearly 92.8 kg of silver ornaments in 2020 alone.

“We now suspect that there is a link between the silver ornaments smuggled out and the gold brought in. Silver ornaments are in high demand in Bangladesh and there are several online stores selling them. This has led us to suspect that the gold that comes into India from across the border is their payment. After all, even 100 gm gold would be worth a lot of silver,” an official said.

There is suspicion that gold of greater value is being smuggled into India and the additional amount could be reaching terror outfits like Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh.