Dhaka Bureau: In the case of the theft of 55.51 kg of gold from the locker of the customs department at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, the superiors have shown gross failure in their duties. A huge amount of gold was kept in the vault without informing the NBR or Bangladesh Bank. The provision of depositing recovered gold in Bangladesh Bank was not followed. Permission to open the mail vault after four signatures Meanwhile, police have interrogated a total of eight people, including four constables. Gold is generally recovered in three categories at the airport.
One was smuggled, two were abandoned, and three were declared transported. Later, many gold coins were confiscated due to non-payment of taxes within the stipulated time. Any person can bring one gold biscuit weighing 100 grams. And for those who were arrested, including Sona, their matter was decided after the completion of the trial in court. These golds are seized, listed, and kept in warehouses. A copy of the seized list is to be given to the National Board of Revenue (NBR). After that, the gold stored in the warehouse will be inspected every month by a duty commissioner of customs to determine whether it is correct or not according to the seized list.
A report of that monitoring shall be sent to the NBR. There is a provision to immediately deposit the seized gold, which does not have a case, in the Bangladesh Bank. But the investigation showed that none of these rules were obeyed by the customs authorities. Due to their negligence in their duty, such a big theft happened. Officials of different organizations at the airport said that they are responsible for this. According to them, there would have been no chance of such a theft if there were regular monitoring provisions. So they cannot avoid the responsibility.
There are complaints against the customs officials that even if the big consignments are caught many times, instead of depositing them in the warehouse, they themselves distribute them. A top official who has served for a long time in customs told the media that sometimes gold is left in the vault for a long time. This creates a lack of security. In 2019, 15 kg of gold were found in Benapole. It was left unprotected for a long time. Later, it disappeared. After this incident, NBR authorities gave clear instructions. It is said there that after the gold is recovered, it should be listed and kept in the warehouse. Those who recover the gold will immediately inform their superiors about the matter. These senior officers will report the supervision once every month without informing the authorities.
That report should be submitted to NBR. In smuggling cases, it has to proceed according to the instructions of the court. However, arrangements should be made to deposit the abandoned gold in the Bangladesh Bank only after it is caught. But these were not reported in the case of 55 kg of gold at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. It is kept in the warehouse for a long time without following the rules. Due to this, the concerned officials cannot avoid the responsibility. Besides, there are allegations that even though gold worth crores of rupees was caught, a class of officials distributed it themselves without depositing it. The customs authorities have filed a case with the airport police station regarding the disappearance of 55.51 kg of gold.
The Thana police interrogated eight people, including the shift officer in charge of the godown, the customs officer, and the constable. The police said they did not get any satisfactory reply from them until 10 p.m. However, as they are involved in this incident, initially law enforcement officials are sure that the four soldiers have been detained for questioning, and there is no way to open the vault without their signatures. Customs filed a case of theft of gold bars and gold ornaments by breaking steel cupboard lockers from the godown under Section 380 of the Penal Code. Dhaka Customs House Airport Preventive Team Assistant Revenue Officer Md. Sohrab Hossain filed the case at the airport police station on Sunday night as the plaintiff.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Khandkar Golam Farooq said that the case is currently being investigated by the police station. I will think about what to do later. Airport police station OC Azizul Haque Bhuiyan said that those who were in the security of the vault are being interrogated. According to the statement of the case, on September 2, the Joint Commissioner was informed through Customs House Warehouse Officer Masood Rana that after entering the transit godown TGR-1 adjacent to Airport Lost and Found, he found a steel container kept in the warehouse for the collection of valuable goods. The closet door lock is broken. At this time, he also said that on the night of September 2, as usual, after depositing the seized goods in TGR 1, four officials left the airport customs area together with the keys and locked the godown at approximately 12:15 p.m. On the basis of the information received from the godown officer, the joint commissioner in charge of the airport immediately visited the godown.
He informed senior officials at Customs House Dhaka about the situation. According to the statement of the case, the Joint Commissioner, Additional Commissioner, and Commissioner visited the godown and found the lock of a steel cupboard inside broken. At the same time, I was working in godown ABC and DH, a four-shift officer. Masud Rana, Md. Saidur Rahman Shahed, Md. Shahidul Islam, and Akram Sheikh, assistant revenue officer Rezaul Karim Mohammad, Mozammel Haque, Md. Afzal Hussain, and Niamat Howladar, working as sepoys, questioned him about breaking the lock. At this time, they could not give a satisfactory answer. Valuables kept in the godown under the verbal direction of the Commissioner at a later date
