Gold smuggling: Departmental probe ordered against Biman officials

The civil aviation ministry has ordered departmental probe against employees of Biman Bangladesh Airlines arrested on charges of smuggling gold.

“The secretary of the ministry has spoken to Biman officials. Departmental probe has been ordered,” minister Rashed Khan Menon told bdnews24.com on Thursday evening.

He said further measures would follow after the ministry gets a police report about others suspects.

Gold smuggling in the country has gone up substantially in the past two years.

Detectives on Tuesday detained Emdad Hossain, a deputy general manager of the state-owned airline, Flight Captain Shahidullah, Schedule in-charge Tozzamel Haque along with Uttara’s Farhan Money Exchange owner Harun-ur-Rashid and Biman contractor Mahmudul Haque Palash.

The court on Wednesday ordered the five, who were shown arrested in a case filed under Special Powers Act, to be questioned in police custody for four days.

Their arrests followed the questioning of Biman cabin crew Majharul Afsar who was caught with 2.6 kilograms of gold and six iPads from a Biman flight on Nov 12.

Gold mules have been caught at Dhaka and Chittagong airports almost regularly for the past couple of years, but this was the first instance of high-ranking officials being arrested.

File Photo

The government was planning to ‘computerise Biman’s entire schedule’ to prevent its workers from getting involved into crimes of this nature, said Menon.

“We are thinking of using automated

software for our entire schedule system.”

Meanwhile, the acting managing director of Biman and its public relations officials have refused to speak to reporters, denying them access into the airlines office.