Grocer sold land to invest in gold smuggling
A grocery store owner of Old Dhaka sold his ancestral lands to invest in gold smuggling and has been trafficking gold to India through the border for about five years, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) said yesterday.
Caught during a drive on Thursday, Tapas Malakar, 32, and his wife Monty Malakar, 26, admitted that they carried gold bars from Dhaka to Benapole point of Bangladesh-India border in their van.
While the grocery store was a front for trafficking gold bars, Tapas invested Tk 60 lakh to become a trafficker by selling his lands in Manikganj.
In two separate drives Thursday, Rab-1 recovered 12kg of gold bars -- 8kg from Tapas, Monty and their associate Dulal Chhandra Das, 32, and the rest from Dinbandhu Sarkar, 39, an associate of the ring, who owns a store of silver ornaments in Old Dhaka.
Tipped- off, Rab officials in a drive at Turag Bhanga Bridge area of Savar searched a white van and found 24 gold bars in different purses and backpacks and detained Tapas, Monty and Dinbandhu, Rab-1 commanding officer Tuhin Mohammad Masud told a press conference at Rab-1 headquarters.
He added that there were children in the vehicle who did not know about the gold.
On information from the trio, a Rab team raided Tantibazar area of Old Dhaka at night and found over 4kg of gold at Dinbandhu's apartment, Masud said.
Rab is looking for associates of the ring Hridoy Das, 55, Nilkrishno Ghosh, and Sumon Dey, who are all businessmen based in Old Dhaka.
In primary interrogation, the detainees admitted that they have been involved in gold trafficking for a long time and some of their members brought gold ornaments and bars from Singapore, Malaysia, and different Middle Eastern countries through evading taxes, said the Rab officer.
After bringing the gold into the country, they trafficked that to India.
In disguise of a jeweller, Dinbandhu used to operate the smuggling racket, the Rab officer added.
Masud said both Tapas and Dinbandhu worked as carriers of the smuggling racket.
Tapas admitted that he used to travel from Dhaka to Benapole with gold bars in his van about twice or thrice a week.
He also became quite well-off with the money he earned by smuggling and sent his children to English medium schools, said the Rab official.
Tapas also admitted that he learnt about gold trafficking when working at a jewellery store in 2011.
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