THRISSUR: 13 kg of gold worth Rs 8.45 crore was seized from two persons arrested on Saturday night from Badohi Saroi area near Varanasi and it came to light that gold was being smuggled to Kerala through this route. Some people from Malappuram district have opened office in Bangladesh adjacent to West Bengal.

The 24 carat thangka biscuits brought from the Gulf to Bangladesh are smuggled across the border and brought to Kerala after reaching Kolkata. These will be melted down in Kolkata and made into 916 ornaments. Gold is brought from Kolkata by train.

According to the law, a person can bring 100 grams (12.5 Pawan) of gold from abroad into Bangladesh. If you bring this much gold to Kerala and sell it, you will get a profit of Rs 40,000. Lakhs of profit is made when it is smuggled in large quantities. It is smuggled in motorcycles etc. There are people who hide up to 10 kilos a day.

The transaction of 'reverse hawala' is now gold smuggling through Bangladesh. The money that was previously brought in the name of Gundi is now being collected by agents in the Gulf and converted into gold for an equal amount and brought back home. The proceeds from the sale will be returned to the customers. Every day, hundreds of kilos of gold are transported from the Gulf to and from Bangladesh.