Plainclothes police arrested Wednesday five people, including three top officials of flight scheduling unit of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, for their alleged involvement in gold smuggling.
In overnight drives, Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) detained them from the capital's airport, Uttara and Bashundhara areas, officials said.
The officials of the national flag carrier were identified as Emdad Hossain, Deputy General Manager of Flight Scheduling, Captain Abu Mohammad Aslam Shaheed, Chief of Planning and Scheduling and Tozammel Hossain, Manager, Scheduling.
The two other detainees were Mahmudul Haque, Contractor of Biman Bangladesh and Mohammad Harunur Rashid, Owner of Uttara-based Farhan Money Exchange.
In a post-arrest briefing at the DMP Media Cell, DMP Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam said a cabin crew of Bangladesh Biman Mazharul Afsar alias Rasel was arrested with five gold bars weighing 2.3kg on November 12 last.
The DB was, then, given charge to deal with it considering importance of the case, he said, adding that Afsar during interrogation gave some sensational information about the people involved in the gold smuggling.
"Based on his information, we launched the drive and arrested them. We'll soon produce them before court with a remand prayer for further interrogation," he said.
The DMP Joint Commissioner said several smuggling syndicates have emerged with the help of top Biman officials to bring gold bars illegally into the country through airways for smuggling purpose.
Responding to a query, he said identities of some other officials came to spotlight in the preliminary interrogation. "We need cross- checking of the information before taking any action against them," he added.
The drive was initiated under the leadership of senior Assistant Commissioner Minhajul Islam with the supervision of Additional Deputy-Police Commissioner (ADC) Md Ahmed Ahad.
The country's prime airport - Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport - has become a major smuggling point of gold over the last few years as customs and intelligence officials almost each week seize illegal consignment of such precious metal.
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