'Golden Monir' arrested with arms, drugs

In an overnight drive, members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested a man, locally known as 'Golden Monir', along with 'arms, drugs and huge foreign currencies' from his residence in the capital's Badda area, reports UNB.

RAB's legal and media wing chief lieutenant colonel Ashik Billah came up with the informationat a press briefing on Saturday.

The drive was conducted from Friday night to Saturday morning, he said.

Foreign currencies of 10 countries, worth Tk 900,000, around 600 tolas of gold, weighing 8 kg, and cash Tk 19 million 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 million, 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 10.5 billion, said the RAB media wing chief.

He was taken to RAB-3 office for further interrogation.