CIID raid 6 outlets of Apan Jewellers
Special Correspondent
The Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) raided six shops of Apan Jewelers in different parts of the city and seized ornaments worth Tk 85.38 crore yesterday following allegations of smuggling and discrepancies in their sale and purchase of gold and precious stones. The seized ornaments, which include 286kg of gold and 61 grams of diamond, were kept in custody of the shops as per the law. However, the shops can no longer sell these seized items.
The raid took place following the allegation of rape of two private university students by Shafat Ahmed, son of Apan Jewellers co-owner Dildar Ahmed.
CIID sources said they have found serious discrepancies in the chains dealings in some of the poshest markets in the city. The CIID has also sought the bank account statements of Dildar and Shafat to scan their transactions.
The customs authorities issued a media statement after the raid on the five shops yesterday. The statement noted that action would be taken against the business group for smuggling and money laundering if any irregularities came to the surface through investigations. Papers relating to the products will be scrutinised, said the release.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) opened an investigation into allegations against Apan Jewellers co-owner Dildar Ahmed that he is involved in gold smuggling. The allegations surfaced after his son Safat Ahmed was accused of committing rape recently. The CIID conducted simultaneous raids on two Apan Jewellers showrooms in Gulshan and one each in Mouchak, Uttara and Jigatalas Shimanto Square. RAB personnel and Dhaka North and Dhaka South VAT officials took part in the raid. The showroom at Gulshans Suvastu Tower was sealed off.
Earlier, a special team from the police headquarters arrested Shafat Ahmed and his cohort Sadman Sakif, the son of a city hotelier, from Sylhet, last Thursday.
Earlier, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) had started gathering details on their transactions following media reports on the jeweller and his son to determine if there had been any money laundering under the guise of the trade in gold and precious stones. Both Shafat and Sadman were accused by the two private university students of raping them at gunpoint at the Banani four-star hotel Rain Tree, where they were lured with an invitation to Shafats birthday party on March 28 by him and his friend Naeem Ashraf. The latter, who goes by the alias of Halim in his village in Kazipur, Sirajganj, is also sought by the police as a co-accused in the rape case. Shafats driver Billal and bodyguard Abul Kalam Azad have also gone into hiding to evade arrest. Shafat and Sadman have been remanded to police custody for six and five days respectively. They are being interrogated at the Detective Branch of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) by victim support centre officials and others from the DMP.
Initial interrogations have led to an admission to the rape, the police sources said. 10 bottles liquor seized from Raintree Hotel Meanwhile, CIID officials yesterday conducted a drive at the citys Raintree Hotel. Dr Moinul Khan, CIID Director General (DG), said a CIID team started the drive in the morning and seized 10 bottles of foreign liquor from a room of the hotel. Besides, the hotel dodged around 8.27 lakh as VAT in the last one month, said a CIID press release. It said three cases -- two for selling wine dodging duty and laundering money and the other for evading VAT - will be filed against the hotel.
