Police get five days to question five men over 27.2mn Indian rupee seizure at Chittagong port

A Chittagong court has allowed police five days to question the five arrested over the seizure of nearly 27.2 million Indian rupees found in a container at Chittagong port.

Metropolitan Magistrate Nawreen Akhter Kakon scrapped the defence’s bail plea on Tuesday.

Chittagong Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Nirmalendu Bikash Chakrabarty told bdnews24.com they had asked for 10 days.

“Various intelligence agencies would question the arrested about local and international connections of the rupee smuggling syndicate. Time is needed to get all the information, I told the court.”

The law enforcers had made the remand appeal on Sep 22 after presenting the arrested in court. The judge had set Sep 27 for hearing the plea, but that did not happen.

The case was filed by Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation’s Assistant Revenue Officer Bidhan Kumar Sarkar at Bandar Police Station on Sep 22.

The six accused are the container’s sender Bangladeshi expatriate in Dubai Shahiduzzaman, his brother Md Touhidul Alam, Clearing and Forwarding agent Flash Trade International’s Chairman ASM Sayem alias Shamimur Rahman, Managing Director Md Asadullah, its employee Md Ahammad Ullah and port worker Sheikh Saber.

Bandar police OC AKM Mohiuddin Selim said the case, filed under the Special Powers Act and Customs Act, named six people, five of whom were arrested on Sep 21.

On Sep 20, customs officials, based on a tip-off, seized the container which was found in a ship that started from Dubai’s Port of Jebel Ali on Sep 12. The ship reached Chittagong port on Sep 16.