CID finds Tk721cr of ‘gold smuggler’ Abu Ahmed

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police in its investigation has found Tk721.17 crore of absconding Abu Ahmed allegedly involved in hundi trading and gold smuggling.

The Financial Crime Unit of the department recently submitted the probe report prepared by its Inspector Mohammad Sadeque Ali to the court.

"We have completed the investigation in the gold smuggling case against Abu Ahmed and found his illegal earnings. We submitted the report accusing a total of 21 persons involved in the racket," said Humayun Kabir, special superintendent of the unit.

The prime accused Abu Ahmed made huge assets – several buildings, plots, luxury homes – in Chattogram with the illegal earnings made by money laundering and gold and other goods smuggling, according to the CID. He also has three shops in Dubai.  

Abu Ahmed was sued after a team of Chattogram police recovered 250 gold bars from his room at a Chattogram market in January 2018. In the same year, the police submitted the charge sheet to the court accusing three, including Abu Ahmed.

Later, the CID was assigned for investigation in the case. After primary investigation, it filed another lawsuit in March 2020 against a total of 20 individuals, bringing a charge of money laundering. Later, the CID found another one involved in the racket. 

According to the CID officials, accused Abu Ahmed, son of Chattogram resident Hazi Fayez, once earned his livelihood selling cigarettes and puffed rice in his village. After a few years, he migrated to Dubai, where the young man got involved in hundi trading and gold smuggling.

Abu Ahmed opened 21 bank accounts in the names of different firms – Farhad trading, Rial trading, Nice Telecom Centre, Rupa Telecommunication and so on – on which the CID found a lot of transactions.

One of his associates, Khorshed Alam, collected foreign currency from expatriate Bangladeshis who wanted to send their money home. Abu Ahmed and another member of the ring, Faridul Alam, distributed the money in taka, against the expatriates' currency. In this way, the racket made a huge amount of foreign currency, with which they started gold smuggling.

Ahmed was accused in two other gold smuggling cases filed with Airport and Paltan police stations. Earlier, he was detained by Chattogram police in 2016 with a huge amount of gold and cash. Immediately after the arrest, he was able to obtain bail from the High Court. 

Abu Ahmed later came to the spotlight through forgery; he had a fake High Court order prepared to stay the trial of his case.

However, the High Court identified the forgery in the same year and filed a case against him and two others with Shahbag Police Station in November 2016. He has been absconding since then.