The case related to the missing of 55 kilograms (kg) of gold from a customs locker inside Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in Dhaka has been transferred to the Detective Branch (DB) of police to investigate the incident.
Faruk Hossain, deputy commissioner (DC-media) of the DMP, confirmed the development on Wednesday, saying that the DB members have already started an investigation into the incident.
Officials said the customs officials seized the 55kg gold or gold bars from air passengers who brought them illegally from abroad from 2020 to August 13 this year.
The customs officials perform their duty in four shifts daily and those who seize the gold bars keep those in their own lockers and no one except the customs officials is allowed to enter the warehouse. Those who performed duty in the past one month might have been taken away.
Dhaka Customs House’s sources said the incident of gold stealing came to the attention of the
Dhaka Customs Department last Saturday. However, the matter came to light widely a day later.
After proper inventory, the Dhaka Customs House confirmed that around 55 kg of gold was stolen from its own airport's godown.
According to a source from Dhaka Customs House, there was approximately more than 200 kg of gold in the warehouse.
The Dhaka Customs House has already formed a five-member committee headed by its Joint Commissioner (customs) Minhaj Uddin to investigate the entire incident.
Besides, Mohammad Sohrab Hossain, assistant revenue officer of Dhaka Customs House, filed a case with the airport police station accusing unidentified people on Sunday night.
According to the First Information Report (FIR), it was mentioned that someone or somebody took away the 55 kgs of gold sometime between 12:15 pm on Saturday night and 8:30 am on Sunday breaking the locker of an almirah inside the warehouse. According to the customs department, the value of this stolen gold is around Tk 45 crore.
According to the information mentioned in the FIR of the case, the senior officials of the customs department gave verbal instructions to the officer in charge of the warehouse to ascertain whether any valuables were stolen from the warehouse or not. Later on Sunday, the officers in charge of the warehouse found that 55 kg and 51 grams of gold seized between 2020 and 2023 were stolen as per the Detention Receipt (DM).
As per the rules, the gold was supposed to be deposited in Bangladesh Bank's vault but a question has been raised as to why the rules were not followed.
