Police have arrested three people in connection with the snatching of gold ornaments from the brother of an expatriate near Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital.

The arrested are Ripon, Al-Amin Shanto and Abdur Rouf, president of the Airport Organisational Unit of BNP.

Another person allegedly involved in the incident remains at large.

A police team arrested the three at different times on Saturday night and Sunday evening, said Mirza Tarek Ahmed Beg, deputy commissioner of Uttara Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

He said the three were arrested in a case filed by the victim’s brother, adding that police operations were underway to arrest others involved in the incident.

According to the case documents, Md Suman, brother of the expatriate, filed the case with Airport Police Station on Aug 29. The case is numbered 46.

Abdur Rouf was named the prime accused, while Ripon, Al-Amin Shanto and Rubel were made accused Nos. 2, 3 and 4 respectively.

According to the first information report, Suman’s elder brother Kawsar lives in Malaysia and had sent 200 grams of gold ornaments to Bangladesh on Aug 28 for his sister’s wedding and the use of their family.

Later that night, Suman and his friend Rohan Chowdhury collected 100 grams of the gold from a person known to Kawsar at the airport, while another 100 grams was handed over to Rohan. They then left the airport in a rented Hiace vehicle.

Around 8:05pm, when they reached a road opposite Balaka Bhaban on the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway under Airport Police Station, the accused allegedly stopped them and claimed that they belonged to the Awami League and Chhatra League and had bombs.

They allegedly assaulted Suman and Rohan and at one stage snatched the 200 grams of gold ornaments they were carrying, according to the FIR.

Local people later rescued the two victims. A passerby reportedly tried to intervene, while another secretly recorded the incident on a mobile phone camera.

The accused allegedly fled with the gold after seeing more people gathering at the scene.

Local sources said the arrested individuals are involved in BNP and its student wing Chhatra Dal. They identified Ripon as president of Airport Police Station unit Chhatra Dal, Al-Amin Shanto as its general secretary and Abdur Rouf as president of the Airport Organisational Unit BNP.

However, DC Mirza Tarek Beg told UNB that police had not yet been able to confirm their political identities.