$1.4m in gold seized from North Korean official at Bangladesh airport
A North Korean official has had over £1 million worth of gold confiscated from his hand luggage by Bangladeshi airport officials.
Dhaka authorities have confirmed they intend to pursue charges against Son Young-nam, the first secretary at the North Korean embassy in Dhaka, after 59lb of gold was discovered in this luggage following a routine inspection at the city’s airport on Thursday night.
“He insisted that his bags cannot be scanned because he’s carrying a red passport and he enjoys diplomatic immunity,” the director general of the Custom Intelligence department Moinul Khan told AFP.
Surprised custom officials found and confiscated gold bars and ornaments, amounting to $1.4 million, roughly £1.1 million.
“What he did is beyond diplomatic norms,” Mr Khan said, adding that the situation was a “clear case of smuggling.”
The customs department has initiated a process to file a criminal case against Mr Young-nam. Under the Vienna Convention the official was released on Friday evening.
[The Independent]
This entry was posted in DPRK Government by Grant Montgomery.
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[…] week a North Korean diplomat was caught smuggling gold estimated to be worth £1m ($1.4 M) from Singapore to Bangladesh. The route of travel and amount of gold seized suggests […]