Rab’s Legal and Media wing chief Lt Col Ashik Billah came up with the information at a press briefing on Saturday.
The drive was conducted from Friday night to Saturday morning, he said.
Foreign currencies of 10 countries, worth Tk 9 lakh, around 600 tolas of gold, weighing 8 kg, and cash Tk 1.9 crore were recovered from his possession, said Ashik Billah.
He said Monir Hossain, a vicious hundi trader and land broker, is locally known as ‘Golden Monir’, as Rab found his involvement in gold smuggling, said Billah adding that he is also the owner of a car showroom.
“In 1990s, Monir was a salesman in a shop at Gausia Market. He later started cookeries and luggage business. He used to import goods from different countries dodging taxes. He also got involved in gold smuggling from Dhaka-Singapore and Bangladesh-India routes,” said Ashik.
Monir has 200 plots in his name in Badda, Nikunja, Uttara and Keraniganj, and used a luxurious car worth Tk 3 crore, he said adding that all the information was revealed during a preliminary investigation by the detectives.
The Rab chief said a case was filed against Monir under the Special Powers Act in 2007 and he was identified as a ‘land robber’ as he occupied many land plots allegedly in collusion with a section of Rajuk employees.
The total amount of his wealth is approximately 1050 crore, said the Rab media wing chief.
He was taken to Rab-3 office for further interrogation.
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