Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) recovered a touchstone statue of Hindu deity Vishnu, weighing 115 kg and worth Tk 3.45 crore, and arrested two people in Haripur upazila of Thakurgaon district on Monday.
The arrestees were identified as Hasan Ahmed, 26, of Kismat Bhoisa village, and Nazmul, 64, of Nandagaon, in the district.
Tipped off, a team of RAB-13 conducted a drive at the village around 4:30pm and recovered the statue from the cowshed of Hasan, according to a press release, signed by Additional Superintendent of Police Biplab Kumar Goswami, on Tuesday.
They later arrested Hasan and Nazmul in this regard. The seized touchstone statue was handed over to local police.
During preliminary interrogation, the arrestees confessed that they were planning to smuggle the statue to a neighbouring country, the release added.