ASP accused of stealing mobile of foreigner

A foreign national yesterday filed a complaint, accusing an assistant superintendent of police (ASP) of stealing a mobile phone set from her at Zia International Airport.
The accused, Mahiuddin Faruqi, is posted to the Bangladesh desk of Interpol at the police headquarters while the complainant, Piath Sarapok, is a Thai woman married to a Bangladesh citizen.
Witnesses said the mobile set went missing when the passengers of a Thai Airways flight from Bangkok were waiting to pick up their luggage at around 12:30pm. As Sarapok accused Faruqi of stealing, it led to an altercation.
At one stage, she slapped the ASP in the face. Later, customs and other officials body-searched him and found the phone set in his pocket.
Sarapok filed a general diary with the Airport Police Station.
Talking to The Daily Star, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Nur Mohammad termed it embarrassing.
Khondoker Rafiqul Islam, deputy commissioner (DC) of Uttara Zone of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), said the incident is sensitive since the complainant is a foreign national and the accused a senior police official.
“We are investigating the complaint,” he added.