Elderly couple held with gold bars worth Tk 1.75 crore

Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) officials arrested an elderly couple with 30 gold bars -- weighing around 3.5kg -- from the city’s Jatrabari area yesterday morning.

The arrestees were identified as Nirmal Saha, 66, and his wife Tapashi Saha, 60, said CIID Director General Shahidul Islam.

Acting on a tip-off, a team of CIID intercepted the couple when they got down from a bus near a toll plaza of Mayor Hanif Flyover on Dhaka-Chattogram highway around 7:45am.

Upon interrogation, Nirmal admitted that his wife had gold bars in her possession. Officials recovered gold bars worth around Tk 1.75 crore attached to a belt wrapped around Tapashi’s body, Shahidul said.

“The couple, during primary interrogation, admitted that they had brought at least four more consignments of gold to Dhaka from their hometown in Feni,” said CIID Assistant Director Abdullah Al Mamun, who led the drive.

The arrestees claimed that they were just carriers and got involved in the crime for money.

Unknown persons used to communicate with them over phone and give them gold bars in Feni to deliver those to someone in Dhaka, Mamun said quoting the arrestees.

The couple has been involved in gold smuggling for a couple of years, taking advantage of their age to dodge the eyes of law enforcers, he said.