A case has been filed over seizure of liquid cocaine from a container at Chittagong port.
Published : 29 Jun 2015, 03:20 AM
The Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation has formed a four-strong committee to look into the matter.
Bandar Police Station OC AKM Mohiuddin Selim told bdnews24.com that Sub-inspector Osman Gani had filed the case under Narcotics Control Act on Sunday naming two persons.
The accused are importing firm Khan Jahan Ali Ltd’s Chairman Nur Mohammad and its employee ‘Sohel’, who was arrested after seizure of the drug.
Existence of liquid cocaine was found in barrels of edible oil, seized from a container at the port, after their contents were retested in two laboratories in Dhaka -- the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) and Bangladesh Drug Testing Laboratory (BDTL).
Police said they had shown Sohel arrested in the case and appealed to the court for a five-day remand to interrogate him.
Mohammad claimed that Sohel was involved in the ‘import of oil’ beyond his knowledge.
CII Director General Mainul Khan told bdnews24.com on Saturday: “The cocaine was found in the container’s barrel number 96 after the liquid in it was tested.”
“I assume one-third of the drum’s 185 kg sunflower oil is liquid cocaine,” he said.
The container was imported from Bolivia in the name of Khan Jahan Ali Limited of Chittagong’s Khatunganj.
The CII sealed the container at the NCT yard of Chittagong port on June 7 based on an intelligence report.
The physical test of the contents was done the following day in presence of senior officials of Detective Branch (DB) of police, customs intelligence, Department of Narcotics Control, Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) and Bangladesh Navy.
The primary test found no trace of cocaine in the 107 drums in the container.
On that day, Additional Inspector General of Police Javed Patwary said a foreign intelligence agency had confirmed them that there was cocaine in the container.
CII officials said the department’s Additional Director General for Chittagong Hossain Ahmed would lead the four-member probe committee.
Other members are Deputy Director Zakir Hossain, Assistant Director Omar Faruk and Assistant Revenue Officer Aminur Rahman.