Two employees of Biman Bangladesh Airlines have given confessional statements before a court in a case over the recovery of 80 gold bars worth an estimated Tk16.25 crore from their shoes at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.
Manik Mia and Mizanur Rahman were produced before the court on Saturday after completing a five-day remand. As they agreed to make confessional statements voluntarily, the case’s investigating officer, Airport Police Station Inspector Abul Qaiyum, applied to have their statements recorded.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Hasan Shahadat recorded their statements and later ordered that they be sent to jail, said Abu Bakar Siddique, a sub-inspector of the police prosecution division.
The Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) announced the detention of the two Biman employees on Sunday morning. The following day, a court granted five days of remand for their interrogation.
According to a CIID press release, officials took up positions at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Sunday following a tip-off. They recovered 80 gold bars concealed inside the employees’ shoes near the runway where Emirates Airlines flight EK-0582 from Dubai was stationed.
Each bar weighed approximately 117 grams, bringing the total weight of the seized gold to around 9.34kg. The estimated market value was Tk16.25 crore.
The CIID said it was investigating the source of the gold, the intended recipients and others involved in the alleged smuggling operation.
On Sunday, Ruhani Islam, an assistant revenue officer of the airport’s Customs Intelligence and Investigation Circle, filed a case under the Special Powers Act over the incident.