Remittances boomed as gold smuggling from Dubai slumps

Bangladesh earned 3 billion dollars in form of foreign remittances from expatriate Bangladeshis in March 2025. Sources close to Bangladesh Bank have informed that the remittance inflow into Bangladesh rose so robustly because gold smuggling based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is going through a slump. A special team from Bangladesh Bank visited Dubai in December 2024. As the team returned to Bangladesh, they informed the central bank Governor and Finance Adviser about the gold smuggling cartels in the UAE, particularly the gold smugglers centered in Dubai.

Intelligence officials belonging to the Customs and Excise Department, Bangladesh government took certain cautionary measures after receiving specific facts and figures linked with gold smuggling. Intelligence officials seized an aircraft belonging to Biman Bangladesh Airlines in Chattogram Shah Amanat International Airport on 26 December 2024. The investigators recovered over 2 kilograms of gold from underneath a seat on the seized aircraft. One person was detained in connection with this gold smuggling occurrence. This raid against gold smuggling by the customs officials in Bangladesh twisted things around favourably regarding the procurement of remittances from expatriate Bangladeshis-such perceptions have been presented by Bangladesh Bank top brass. Finding such a big quantity of gold on an aircraft in Chattogram Airport caused a nosedive in Dubai-centered gold smuggling business. As a result the highest amount of foreign remittances was transferred to Bangladesh in the country's history in March 2025. However, overseas employment from Bangladesh decreased by 22% in 2024 despite a boom in remittance inflow.

The Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training revealed that 10 lakh 12 thousand Bangladeshi workers travelled abroad with work permits in 2024 while 13 lakh 6 thousand Bangladeshis secured overseas jobs in 2023. Remittances from expatriate Bangladeshis working in the UAE have been the highest during last over one year, financial sources have stated.

A vicious syndicate takes foreign currencies from expatriate Bangladeshis employed in Dubai in collaboration with their agents operating in Bangladesh. This syndicate buys gold bars with the money they grab from naïve Bangladeshi workers located in Dubai. The same syndicate dispatches these gold bars to Bangladesh by air and more than 90% of these smuggled gold bars cross the borders and enter India. In exchange Indian traders send cows and some other commodities into Bangladesh. In this way Bangladesh suffered a dip in foreign remittances

for a long time because foreign currencies which don't enter Bangladesh through banking channels do not get added to foreign exchange reserves.  
Bangladesh Bank senior officials have told The Asian Age that if the authorities concerned can tackle the above Dubai-based gold smuggling, remittances from the Middle East including from the UAE will be further bolstered.