Charge-sheet in 61kg gold smuggling case submitted

The Detective Branch (DB) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) yesterday evening  submitted charge-sheet in the sensational 61 kilogram smuggled gold and local and foreign currencies worth Tk4.5 crore recovery case, accusing 12 people, including  employees of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, the Civil Aviation Authority and a ruling party-backed upazila chairman.

Shaikh Nazmul Alam, deputy commissioner of the DB (North), confirmed this to this correspondent yesterday.
According to the court sources,  Mohammad Ali, Mujibur Rahman alias Haji Mujub and Sirajganj Sadar upazila Awami League-backed chairman, Riaz Uddin have been named in the charge-sheet as godfathers.
But the name of Shamim Chairman, another godfather, hailing from Sylhet, was left out as he died before submitting the charge-sheet. 
Nurul Islam, an expelled official of Civil Aviation Authority, was also named in the charge-sheet.
He was also accused in several gold smuggling cases. Gold businessmen Pankaj, Uzzal from Tatibajar gold market were also named. Reaz’s son in law Ali Hossain Mollah, Omar Faruqe, Nabi Newaj Khan, Abu Ahmed, Saleh Ahmed, accused , among others.
The director general of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Department (CIID) Moinul Khan, told The Independent that during the joint raid, conducted by the CIID and DB personnel, 528 gold bars, weighing around 61 kg, Tk 4.5 crore, and Saudi riyals worth Tk.14 lakh were seized from a house at Purana Paltan in the capital on December 25, 2014.
During investigation, the investigators had to face problems as carriers of the smuggled gold used their short names to dodge law enforcers. After grilling the arrested smugglers, DB came to know the names of the syndicate members, especially the godfather, but they could not get details about many field-level carriers of smuggled gold.
Additional deputy commissioner of Police, Md Shajahan Shaju, who was the supervising officer of the much talked-about smuggled gold and currency recovery case, said, "We have found evidence against 12 persons”. 
Law enforcement officials said a ruling party parliamentarian, who was also an eminent cardiothoracic surgeon in Ireland and was involved with a pharmaceutical company of Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Medical Research Council, lobbied to save the godfathers.
Officials suspect that getting unethical financial benefits from the gold smuggling syndicate, the new parliamentarian put pressure on the top brass of the police and the CIID to skip the names of the masterminds behind the smuggling.
When the influential parliamentarian failed to influence the investigators, he threatened officials claiming to be the son-in-law of a senior minister.
DC Nazmul said, “Despite extreme pressure from different influential quarters, we have named all the masterminds in the charge-sheet”.

Charge-sheet in 61kg gold smuggling case submitted

The Detective Branch (DB) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) yesterday evening submitted charge-sheet in the sensational 61 kilogram smuggled gold and local and foreign currencies worth Tk4.5 crore recovery case, accusing 12 people, including employees of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, the Civil Aviation Authority and a ruling party-backed upazila chairman. Shaikh Nazmul Alam, deputy commissioner of the DB (North), confirmed this to this correspondent yesterday. According to the court sources, Mohammad Ali, Mujibur Rahman alias Haji Mujub and Sirajganj Sadar upazila Awami League-backed chairman, Riaz Uddin have been named in the charge-sheet as godfathers. But the name of Shamim Chairman, another godfather, hailing from Sylhet, was left out as he died before submitting the charge-sheet. Nurul Islam, an expelled official of Civil Aviation Authority, was also named in the charge-sheet. He was also accused in several gold smuggling cases. Gold businessmen Pankaj, Uzzal from Tatibajar gold market were also named. Reazs son in law Ali Hossain Mollah, Omar Faruqe, Nabi Newaj Khan, Abu Ahmed, Saleh Ahmed, accused , among others. The director general of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Department (CIID) Moinul Khan, told The Independent that during the joint raid, conducted by the CIID and DB personnel, 528 gold bars, weighing around 61 kg, Tk 4.5 crore, and Saudi riyals worth Tk.14 lakh were seized from a house at Purana Paltan in the capital on December 25, 2014. During investigation, the investigators had to face problems as carriers of the smuggled gold used their short names to dodge law enforcers. After grilling the arrested smugglers, DB came to know the names of the syndicate members, especially the godfather, but they could not get details about many field-level carriers of smuggled gold. Additional deputy commissioner of Police, Md Shajahan Shaju, who was the supervising officer of the much talked-about smuggled gold and currency recovery case, said, We have found evidence against 12 persons. Law enforcement officials said a ruling party parliamentarian, who was also an eminent cardiothoracic surgeon in Ireland and was involved with a pharmaceutical company of Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Medical Research Council, lobbied to save the godfathers. Officials suspect that getting unethical financial benefits from the gold smuggling syndicate, the new parliamentarian put pressure on the top brass of the police and the CIID to skip the names of the masterminds behind the smuggling. When the influential parliamentarian failed to influence the investigators, he threatened officials claiming to be the son-in-law of a senior minister. DC Nazmul said, Despite extreme pressure from different influential quarters, we have named all the masterminds in the charge-sheet.