It was meant for sale in India

The gold bars, weighing 61.5 kilograms and seized by law enforcers at a house in Paltan on Wednesday, were meant to be smuggled into India, said investigators.

They believe Sheikh Md Ali has been engaged in illegal gold smuggling in the guise of an owner of a sweetmeat shop called Ali Sweetmeat in Dhanmondi for 15 years.

The investigators added that Ali had always gotten away with it.

“We learnt about him while quizzing a clearing and forwarding agent of the Dhaka international airport [Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport] as part of our investigation into the 124kg gold seizure,” said an investigator requesting anonymity.

Ali used to buy gold bars from other smugglers and then send them to India, he said, adding that there could be more people engaged in this racket.

As a member of the ring, Ali was assigned to keep gold at his home in the capital and send those to their destinations, detectives claimed.

From the statement of detained Ali before detectives, law enforcers have learnt a few names, including that of an upazila chairman alleged to have been involved in the crime.

An official in the customs intelligence said they had information that Ali had recently stepped into real estate business by opening “Safa Housing Ltd”.

“We will also enquire into the sources of the money invested in the real estate business,” the official said, asking not to be named.

Contradicting the claims made by law enforcers, Ali's wife Gulshanara told The Daily Star that they had accumulated the seized money, about Tk 4.5 crore, investing in real estate.

She on Thursday night said they had acquired Tk 2 crore nearly two weeks ago selling a piece of land she had inherited from her parents in Sylhet. The rest of the money came from her husband's business, she added.

Ali has meanwhile claimed that the gold belonged to his friend Reaz Uddin, an upazila chairman in Sirajganj.

Reaz, general secretary of ruling Awami League's Sirajganj district unit, joined the party in 2009, reports our Sirajganj correspondent.

“Reaz used to serve as a banker in the airport area many years ago,” said a source in the Detective Branch.

The detectives are trying to find out if Reaz was involved in the racket during his stay in the airport area.

The AL leader could not be contacted as he did not pick up his phone.

Thirty officials were listing the serial numbers of the seized money at the airport since 3:00am yesterday.

No case was filed in this connection till filing of this report at 1:30am today.