Biman staffer sent to jail
A Biman Bangladesh Airlines staff member has been sent to jail after completing five days of remand in a case filed over the alleged smuggling of nearly 14kg of gold worth Tk25.2 crore through Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
The accused, Mohammad Soaib Kazi Sojib, an assistant technical helper at Biman Bangladesh Airlines, was produced before Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Sarah Farzana Haque’s court on Thursday, after completing his remand.
The prosecution sought an order to keep him in jail, and the court granted the plea, said Abu Bakkar Siddique, a sub-inspector of the prosecution department.
According to the detention plea, Sojib is allegedly an active member of an international gold-smuggling syndicate and has been involved in smuggling gold from abroad for a long time, evading customs duties and causing substantial financial losses to the government.
The prosecution told the court that keeping the accused in custody was necessary for a proper investigation into the case.
Earlier, the court placed Sojib on five days’ remand on September 6.
Gold Seized From Biman Flight
According to the case statement, customs officials, the National Security Intelligence (NSI), the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and other intelligence agencies searched Biman flight BG-148/AJS at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on September 5 following a tip-off.
The flight had arrived in Dhaka from Dubai via Chattogram.
During the search, Sojib allegedly behaved suspiciously inside the aircraft cabin. When he noticed a Biman junior security officer and other security personnel, he allegedly ran towards the cabin and threw away a packet containing gold bars that he had allegedly concealed on his body.
The packet was later recovered and found to contain 120 gold bars wrapped in grey cloth.
The bars weighed 13,992 grams, or nearly 14kg, and were identified as 24-carat pure gold. Customs officials estimated the value of the seized gold at approximately Tk25.2 crore.
Jamil Sarwar Ahad, an assistant revenue officer of Customs House, filed the case with Airport Police Station under the Special Powers Act, 1974.
The investigation into the alleged gold-smuggling network is underway.
