Three people were detained with 397.7 grams of gold ornaments, eight mobile phones and three laptops at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Thursday, according to the Airport Armed Police Battalion (APBn).
The detainees were identified as Rabia Begum, 48, Akash Ahmed, 35, and Md Jalil, 46.
The three were reportedly spotted behaving suspiciously at around 2:50am on the ground floor of the airport’s multi-storey car park.
When they noticed police presence and allegedly tried to flee, members of Airport APBn detained them.
A subsequent search resulted in the recovery of 397.7 grams of gold ornaments, equivalent to about 36 bhori, along with eight mobile phones and three laptops, the APBn said.
During preliminary questioning, the detainees allegedly told police that the gold, phones and laptops had been brought into Bangladesh from different countries through unidentified passengers for the purpose of smuggling.
Police said the three had allegedly been involved in gold smuggling at the airport for a long time.
A case was filed against them with Airport Police Station on Thursday under Sections 25B(1)(b) and 25D of the Special Powers Act, 1974.
According to the case statement, the accused allegedly worked with unidentified passengers to illegally bring gold into Bangladesh for smuggling while avoiding payment of government revenue.
Mohammad Nazir Ahmed Khan, police superintendent (operations) of Airport APBn, said the unit was continuing efforts to curb criminal activities and smuggling at the airport.
“Airport APBn is committed to performing its duties professionally to prevent drug and gold smuggling. Our operations to prevent any kind of smuggling using the airport will continue,” he said.
