Dolan-Dilip syndicate: The hidden kings of gold smuggling

Awami League’s Central Industry and Commerce Sub-Committee member Dilip Kumar Agarwala and expelled former president of the Bangladesh Jeweller’s Association (BAJUS) Enamul Haque Khan Dolan together have built a huge empire of gold smuggling using the mask of jewellery business.

Awami League’s Central Industry and Commerce Sub-Committee member Dilip Kumar Agarwala and expelled former president of the Bangladesh Jeweller’s Association (BAJUS) Enamul Haque Khan Dolan together have built a huge empire of gold smuggling using the mask of jewellery business.

They have built mountains of illegal wealth by smuggling, amassing wealth of thousands of crores of taka. Despite knowing about their smuggling and luxurious lives, no one wants to open their mind out of fear.

Sources said they are involved with a Dubai-based gold smuggling syndicate and controlling 83 gold smuggling syndicates across the country. Apart from gold smuggling, Dilip Kumar Agarwala has allegations ranging from diamond smuggling to murder.

Though his name came out in the investigation of the MP Anwarul Azim Anar murder case, the detectives did not make his name public due to the intervention of former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal.

Those concerned say that gold is being smuggled several times more than the amount of gold being caught at the country’s airports. Bangladesh’s illegal gold market is controlled by former BAJUS presidents Dilip Agarwala and Enamul Haque Dolan.

Earlier, the Dubai Financial Intelligence Unit had shared information about their gold smuggling. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and intelligence agencies have also kept them under surveillance, but no action is being taken yet.

As these two mafias of gold smuggling are dodging the law enforcement agencies, gold smuggling cannot be stopped in any way, sources at the law enforcement agencies observed.

Who is Dilip Kumar Agarwala?

Our investigation has found that there is a story of horrifying smuggling and fraud behind Dilip Kumar Agarwala’s rise. He was once a minor contractor but later became a Commercially Important Person (CIP) in a span of 2 decades.

He has built wealth worth thousands of crores of taka. During our investigation in his ancestral home, Chuadanga, local residents said Dilip’s overnight transition to a wealthy person reminded them of the story of Aladdin’s lamp.

Now Dilip Kumar Agarwala is the managing director of the jewellery company Diamond World. He lived in a rented house in Dhaka in the nineties, but now lives in a house worth hundreds of crores of taka.

Coming from a middle-class family, Dilip has now built a mountain of wealth through various illegal means, including gold and diamond smuggling, revenue evasion and money laundering.

Diamond World has hundreds of showrooms in various districts, including the capital Dhaka, Chattogram. Dilip’s illegal wealth is more than his legitimate income. Earlier, ACC’s preliminary investigations revealed alarming data on gold and diamond smuggling and money laundering abroad.

According to ACC sources, Dilip Kumar Agarwala illegally smuggled gold and diamonds from abroad and laundered crores of taka abroad through hundi.

There are complaints that he is managing his illegal activities by bribing lakhs of taka to Dhaka airport customs house officials and employees and corrupt officials of the customs department.

The complaint further states that there are serious allegations of fraudulently selling so-called diamonds, mixing a chemical substance called mesentate to sell them as ornaments. They turn black after a few days of use.

By deceiving innocent people, Dilip Kumar Agarwala set up showrooms in Gulshan, Dhanmondi, Uttara, Mirpur and other areas within a few days.

The sources said that almost all members of the Agarwala community, known as traditional traders, have business addresses in Kolkata under the name “Gadighar.” Historically, they have been involved in cross-border trade and the supply and sale of various goods.

According to Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) sources, many Marwaris are involved in petty smuggling activities. They are often caught in border areas with goods, but are released due to special leniency.

It has been reported that Dilip Kumar has been conducting an illegal and fake diamond business by taking photographs with important state figures and influential people from various countries, framing these pictures, and displaying them in every showroom. He has been projecting himself as very powerful.

Sources say that Dilip Kumar, through illegal trade in this country, launders money to India and other countries.

A dramatic transformation in two decades

In Chuadanga, Dilip Kumar Agarwala, who is locally known as a member of the Marwari community, has completely transformed himself within just two decades.

Once forced to leave his home for Dhaka in search of a livelihood, Dilip Kumar has amassed a mountain of wealth through cunning, deceit, and criminal tactics.

Even during on-the-ground investigations in his ancestral home in Chuadanga, many incredible stories emerged. Local residents liken Dilip Kumar Agarwala’s sudden rise to wealth to finding Aladdin’s magic lamp.

In Chuadanga, enquiries among those familiar with Dilip Kumar Agarwala revealed that after completing his education, he began his career by starting a joint contracting business with friends.

At that time, his father, Amiya Agarwala, was running a cinema hall business (Rupchaya, now Panna Cinema Hall). This did not bring much financial stability to the Agarwala family.

The household expenses were met by managing the cinema hall business and renting out shops and houses built on adjacent lands.

Failing to find success in part-time contracting and the cinema hall business in Chuadanga, Dilip moved to Dhaka.

After coming to Dhaka in search of a livelihood, he became involved with various syndicates and completely changed his fortune.

His place is now frequented by all sorts of wealthy individuals, smugglers, political leaders, and administrative officials, both local and foreign. He has amassed vast amounts of property. He owns luxurious houses in Kolkata, Mumbai, and Jaipur in India. There is also a palace-like structure in Australia.

In addition to Bangladesh, he holds citizenships in India and Australia and possesses multiple passports. His influence is extensive.
It has been learnt that this smuggler, Agarwala, as a bank director, took loans exceeding thousands of crores through deceit and laundered the money abroad.

He has also purchased seven floors in two luxury buildings in Gulshan.

Investigating the source of these overnight transactions worth thousands of crores and the incidents of money laundering would reveal shocking details of corruption, according to sources.

Moreover, he has a wide drug network involving controversial models Piyasa and Papiya.

Dilip Agarwala’s name came up in the detective investigation into the murder of Awami League MP Anar in Kolkata, linked to gold smuggling.

However, his name did not become public due to his close relationship with the then Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal.

The intelligence officials suppressed his name under the Home Minister’s intervention. The intelligence officials learnt that there was a dispute between Anar and Dilip over gold smuggling.

Enamul Haque Khan, a mafia

Enamul Haque Khan Dolan is the owner of a gold jewellery business. The Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation had earlier directed Enamul to submit the accounts of all the gold stored in his business facilities to unravel the mystery of smuggling.

According to sources, Enamul is one of the main operators of smuggled gold jewellery business in the capital. His powerful network of illegal gold jewellery business has developed centring Baitul Mukarram Market.

According to related sources, he has amassed huge wealth through smuggling. He continued illegal businesses for a long time right under the administration’s watch, but no action has been taken so far.

Visiting the Baitul Mukarram Market, our correspondent found that the door of the shop number 15/A on the second floor of the market is only two feet wide. Employees of nearby shops said that its owner is Enamul Haque Enamul. On the ground floor is his main showroom called Sharmin Jewellers. Dolan’s shops were completely different from all other shops.

All the other shops in Baitul Mukarram Market are surrounded by transparent glass, but Dolan’s small shop has sheets of paper pasted on its glass door. As a result, nothing inside the shop can be seen from the outside. There is no gold ornament display anywhere inside the shop. Different types of scales are kept on several tables. Although there is a signboard of a gold shop outside, the inside of the store looks different. The decor looks like an office. The shop is known as “Bangla Gold” to local traders.

A gold dealer, who wished not to be named, said the doors of the Dolan’s shop are kept closed most of the day.

Inside his shop, gold ornaments are measured on large scales, not small ones. There, gold ornaments are wholesaled by kilogram, rather than in bhori. Customs officials said although gold the shop trades in gold in kg or maund, its import account is almost empty. Even after searching the records for several years, the information of their import of 10 kg of gold was not found. While investigating the bustling wholesale business of Sharmin Jewellers, which did not import anything, a Dubai-based smuggling racket was found.

Dolan often commutes to Dubai via Kolkata. After obtaining information about his foreign travels, customs detectives found him to be a permanent resident card-holder in Dubai. For this reason, he enjoys special facilities at Dubai airport. As a result, he could easily travel for a short time avoiding the immigration formalities. Apart from multiple houses and flats in Dhaka, he has a huge amount of money in his bank.
He also built an elite bungalow in the style of a five-star hotel in Narsingdi, his home district. For the construction of that house, all the fittings and furnishings were brought from Dubai and Italy. The huge bungalow of Dolan is in Kharab village of Kachikata union under Manohardi upazila, about 45 km from Narsingdi town.

The luxurious state-of-the-art bungalow is guarded by security personnel for 24 hours a day. Every day, a crowd of curious people gathers around the house by the lake.

A local resident, who wished not to be named, said Enamul controlled the hundi trade and gold smuggling in several countries including Dubai through an associate named Khorshed Alam.

According to sources, gold ornaments are smuggled from abroad to Bangladesh by passengers in a special arrangement. In the world of smuggling, this method is called “passenger carrier”. Apart from Dubai, “passenger carriers” are used to bring gold ornaments from Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Gold ornaments are mainly smuggled by air.

In the first step of this method, the smugglers leave the jewellery of different designs in big jewelry stores in Dubai or Singapore. After that, passengers bound for Dhaka are contacted through travel agents. Passengers are given up to 50% discount on air tickets on the condition of carrying gold jewellery. Some travel agents also give extra cash in addition to the discount.

Thus each passenger is allowed to carry 100 grams or 10 bhori of gold ornaments. Women passengers are given up to 30 bhori of gold ornaments due to the carrying facility they enjoy. In this way, many passengers are happy to get discounted tickets or cash by bringing gold ornaments. When going to Dubai, and Singapore, many passengers contact the smugglers and bring gold ornaments. The issue of smuggling by passengers using loopholes in existing laws is known to all, and Enamul controls this trade.