Staff Correspondent 

Members of Airport Armed Police Battalion (APBn-13) on Tuesday arrested two persons along with gold ornaments weighing 896 grams from the capital's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

The detainees were identified as Md Hasan, 39, and Md Shahajan, 49.

According to APBn sources, the duo was detained around 2:00 pm from the canopy area near Arrival Terminal-01 as they attempted to flee after sensing the presence of law enforcers.

They were later taken to the APBn office where the law enforcers recovered 502 grams of gold ornaments from Hasan’s punjabi pocket and another 394 grams from Shahajan’s pocket after searching their bodies.

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The total 896 grams of seized ornaments, estimated to be worth Tk 1,07,04,300, were of 21 and 22 carat quality, officials said.

During primary interrogation, the detainees confessed that the ornaments were smuggled into the country from abroad by unidentified passengers in an attempt to evade customs duty.

They also admitted to being long-time members of a gold smuggling syndicate and acting as receivers.

A case was filed against the duo at Airport Police Station on Tuesday evening.

Speaking on the matter, APBn-13 Operational Commander Mohammad Mozammel Haque said, “We are continuously working to curb smuggling and other crimes at the airport.'

Recently, there has been a noticeable rise in gold smuggling attempts. We remain committed to preventing any form of smuggling through the airport, he added.