Gold Worth over Tk 5 Crore Found in Black-Painted Gear-Shaped Discs in Chattogram, One Arrested
They looked exactly like car gears — grooved teeth all around, a hole in the middle. Two such discs, painted black, were kept in a shopping bag. From the outside there was no way to tell they were actually made of gold. In a police search at the City Gate area of Chattogram city's Akbar Shah police station area, those two discs turned out to be gold worth more than Tk 5 crore.
The drive was carried out on Thursday night at a police checkpost beside City Gate, on the western side of the Chattogram-Dhaka highway. Police said the drive was based on secret information.
The arrested man is Sudhir Kumar Dhar, aged 41. The two gold discs recovered from him weigh 3 kilograms 129.7 grams. According to police information, the estimated market value of the recovered gold is Tk 5 crore 36 lakh 62 thousand.
Sudhir was taking the discs from Hazari Gali in Chattogram to Tatibazar in Dhaka. On the way, he got down from a bus and tried to cross on foot to avoid the police search post. But police became suspicious and he was caught.
Akbar Shah police station officer-in-charge Nazer Hossain said two objects looking like car gears were found in Sudhir's shopping bag. In initial questioning he claimed they were car parts.
But police became suspicious when asked why he was taking the two objects to Dhaka. At one stage of questioning, Sudhir admitted the objects were actually made by melting gold into the shape of gears. They had been painted black to prevent easy identification.
OC Nazer Hossain also said that after the black paint was cleaned off, the objects were confirmed to be gold. They were then taken to Hazari Gali for testing and weighing.
In questioning, Sudhir said a businessman in Hazari Gali had given him the task of taking the gold to Tatibazar in Dhaka. The gold was to be sold to a businessman there. But he was caught by police before reaching his destination.
According to police, smuggled gold brought in through Chattogram's Shah Amanat International Airport was melted and given the shape of gears. It was then painted black as a tactic to pass it off as car parts. Sudhir could not show any valid documents for the recovered gold.
City police Deputy Commissioner (West) Alamgir Hossain said initial questioning had produced information about Sudhir's involvement in gold smuggling. He was sent to jail through the court on Friday.
An application will be made to take Sudhir on remand for questioning to identify the source of the recovered gold and the other people involved in the ring, Deputy Commissioner Alamgir Hossain said.
A case has been filed at Akbar Shah Police Station under the Special Powers Act in this incident, OC Nazer Hossain said.
