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Motiar Rahman alias KhalilA top gold smuggler had run away from the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka, moments before he was scheduled to fly for Colombo on 25 December.

Motiar Rahman was planning to board a flight of Sri Lanka Airlines, just a day after his return from the Sri Lankan capital, officials concerned said. After the immigration officer had found this suspicious and asked him to wait, Motiar pretended to go to the rest room and then vanished.

Investigation, however, says he got help from people working at the airport, to flee the scene.

Former inspector general of police Nur Mohammad pointed out that there are closed circuit cameras everywhere at the airport. “So, it will not be difficult to find out if he had been helped by anyone,” he said.

Criminal Investigation Department’s special superintendent of police Molla Nazrul Islam said Motiar is the ring leader of one of the 7-8 gangs that control smuggling of gold in Dhaka. The police had been looking for Motiar for quite some time and they had even requested that he be arrested at the airport.

In the last three years, Motiar went abroad as many as 165 times, including 78 visits to Malaysia and 64 to India. He has been to Dubai, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Singapore many times as well, but he never faced any question anywhere.

Singapore Interpol on 31 August last year informed the Bangladesh authorities about Motiar’s involvement in money laundering, an officer of Police Headquarters’ Interpol Branch (NCB) told Prothom Alo.

Migrant workers Alauddin and Jahangir Alam were nabbed by Singapore law enforcement in possession of huge foreign currency on 17 July. During interrogation, they told the police that Motiar is the ring leader who has many people bringing foreign currencies for him to Singapore. He then buys gold and smuggles them to Bangladesh.

On pen and paper, Motiar owns a number of businesses, but in reality smuggling is his main business, say investigators. After they got the Interpol report, the police HQ sent it to CID. The CID then requested the immigration police to catch five people, including Motiar.

Rumours have it that Motiar got help from some of the airport staff.

However, the immigration police claim they did not have any order that banned his departure. It came into effect at 3:30pm on 25 December.

Sources said Motiar used to import cosmetics, clocks and other necessary items from Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia in the 1980s. Later he got interested in bringing mobile phone sets, which helped him make connections and learn the loopholes.

Customs Intelligence director general Moinul Khan said his team was also working on nabbing Motiar’s accomplices.

Customs Intelligence officials say a total of 691 kilograms of gold were seized in 2017, the worth being estimated at Tk 3.36 billion. A total of 76 people carrying the smuggled gold had been arrested in 49 cases, but law enforcement people say it is only a small portion of the entire business.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Tanzib Ul Alam, a lawyer at the Supreme Court, said two entities are involved in this smuggling business — customs officials and people in the law enforcement agencies. The customs officials look for the smuggled goods, but they hardly care about who are behind this. The police or other law enforcement agencies are to nab the criminals behind the scene.

However, they hardly carry out their duties the way they should have, according to allegations.