10 Biman staff sued for smuggling in gold

3.8 kg new haul at airport
A case has been filed against 14 people including 10 officials of Biman Bangladesh Airlines over 124 kg gold haul at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in 2013.

Customs officials at Shahjalal International Airport seized 1,064 gold bars weighing around 124 kilogrammes from the luggage chamber of a Biman flight on July 24 last year.

The six-member committee, led by Director General of Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate Mainul Khan, was formed on September 22, 2013 following the gold recovery.

Md Shah Alam officer-in-charge of Airport Police Station told The Daily Observer on Saturday that Customs’ Assistant Revenue Officer Mustafa Kamal filed the case with police on Friday night in this connection “There are 10 Biman Bangladesh employees among the accused,” OC said.

According to sources at the Customs Intelligence Division, the Biman employees are Sweeping Supervisor Abu Zafar, Aircraft Mechanic ‘Masud’, Security Officer Kamrul Hasan, Engineer Saleh Ahmed, Mojibur Rahman, Assistant Aircraft Mechanic Anis Uddin Bhuiyan, Engineering Hangar Mechanic Osman Gani and Junior Inspection officers Shahjahan Siraj, Raihan Ali and ‘Maksud’.

The other four accused in the case are a Nepali national Gourango Rosan, Indian citizen Jason Prince, Bangladesh nationals Jasim Uddin and Milon Shikder, chairman of SA Cargo.

Customs Intelligence Division Assistant Director Umme Nahida Akter said that on Jul 24 last year, 1,165 gold bars weighing 124 kg were recovered from an aircraft of Bangladesh Biman coming from Dubai.

According to customs, the estimated market value of the recovered gold was Tk 540 million. It was the biggest gold haul in the history of Bangladesh.

The case was filed after one and a half years following an investigation by the probe committee after the biggest haul of gold, said Moinul Khan, director general of Customs Intelligence.

Meanwhile, Customs officials on Saturday seized around 3.8 kg of gold, worth around Tk 1.75 crore, and detained one person in this connection from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HISA).

The arrested person was identified as AKM Golam Kabir Shikder, a local of Munshiganj, Kazi Md Ziauddin, a joint commissioner of airport customs, told The Daily Observer. Golam Kabir landed at the Dhaka airport around 11:40am on a Malaysian flight.

Following his suspicious movement, customs officials challenged him in the green channel of the airport. They found 8 gold bars searching his body, Ziauddin said. The current market price of the gold is estimated at Tk 1.75 crore, the official added.

A case was filed with Air-port police station in this connection.

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