Customs officials yesterday seized a consignment of 26.2 kilograms of powder, preliminarily detected as heroin, at the export cargo village of Shahjalal International Airport.
Talking to The Daily Star, Customs Commissioner Zakiya Parveen confirmed the haul.
The powder was packed in eight packets, which were put in four cartons.
Acting on intelligence that a gang was trying to smuggle heroin through the airport, the officials seized the packets around 6:00pm.
“The consignment was stashed in cartons containing Akij biri [cigarette], which were supposed to be exported to Malaysia,” added Zakiya.
NAFA Business Syndicate was the exporter of the goods.
After preliminary testing, experts of the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) confirmed the powder as heroin.
Sefat-e-Mariam, assistant commissioner of customs, said the exporter in league with Omar and Brothers, a clearing and forwarding (C&F) agent, had been trying to smuggle the “drugs” through a courier service.
The consignment was bound for Malaysia by the flight TG-322 of the Thai Airways tomorrow (Sunday), she mentioned.
Monirul Islam, assistant commissioner of the Armed Police Battalion (APBn), said, “All the goods are scanned before sending those to the cargo village. But the smugglers managed to dodge the scanning, which is a mystery.”
There should be a probe into how the cartons reached the cargo village, he noted.
Despite making repeated attempts, this newspaper could not reach Bashir Uddin, managing director of Akij Biri, over the phone for his version on the haul.
Courtesy of The Daily Star
