The Detective Branch has seized 80 gold bars weighing around 9.5kg and arrested the owners of two money exchange agencies in the capital for gold smuggling.
The arrested are AKM Shamsuddin, 51, owner of Amin Money Exchange, and Kamrul Ahsan, 48, owner of City Money Exchange.
During a press conference at the media centre of Dhaka Metropolitan Police yesterday, the DB officials claimed that both the businessmen were directly involved in gold smuggling under the guise of money exchange businesses.
Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam, Deputy Commissioner of DB North Sheikh Nazmul Alam and Assistant Commissioner Minhazul Islam attended the press conference, among others.
Shamsuddin was arrested on Monday afternoon from his office, said the DB officials. Following the information given by Shamsuddin, they arrested Kamrul at his residence early yesterday and recovered 80 gold bars worth around Tk4.5 crore.
The DB made the arrests following the information they had extracted from Nazrul Islam Liton, who was arrested at his Purana Paltan residence with 70 gold bars weighing around 8kg on June 2.
Nine of his associates were also arrested at the Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, while they were trying to flee the country, on the same day.
Liton and two others confessed their involvement in gold smuggling and are currently on remand as suspects in the case of the 106kg of gold that was recovered at the Dhaka airport on April 27.
The DB claimed that they had arrested 10 people in connection with the 106kg of gold recovery case based on the information given by Anis Ahmed Bhuiyan, a Biman Bangladesh employee who was arrested with the gold at the airport immediately after the gold was smuggled into the country via a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight.
848g gold seized at the airport
In a separate drive, the Armed Police Battalion (APBn) arrested a man yesterday morning for possession of three gold bars and a gold chain weighing 848 grams at the Dhaka airport.
Alamgir Hossain Shimul, assistant superintendent of the APBn at the airport, said they arrested Saiful Islam, 41, with the gold right after he arrived in Dhaka from Malaysia on a Biman flight.
“We searched Saiful when he came out of the airport around 8:30am and found the gold in his underwear,” said the APBn official, adding that Saiful was handed over to the customs department with the gold.