Five men who were abducted over the disappearance of 5 kilograms of gold near the Jibannagar border in Chuadanga have been rescued 23 days after their abduction. They were found confined inside a warehouse in the Jhikargacha upazila of Jashore district on Tuesday night. The rescue operation was conducted by Jibannagar police with the assistance of Jhikargacha police.
Police said the victims — Shafi Uddin (32), his father Anar (55), Swapan (40), Abul Hossain (30), and Hasan (27) — all residents of Goalpra village under the Shimanto union of Jibannagar upazila, were rescued from a farm warehouse owned by Rezaul Islam in Kulla village, Jhikargacha upazila.
According to police, members of a gold smuggling syndicate lured them away from home on October 13 and 14 under the pretext of giving witness statements, then held them captive demanding ransom from Abdul Majid and Shahin — two local men accused of misappropriating the gold.
On Monday night, police arrested two suspects — Azizul Haque (47), son of late Abdul Gani, and Amirul Islam (42), son of Munnaf — from Hariharnagar village in connection with the abduction. Acting on their confession, police later carried out the rescue operation in Jhikargacha.
Meanwhile, a fresh case of gold disappearance has been reported. One kilogram of gold allegedly went missing while being smuggled through the Natanpara border area, and two local men — Shamim and Rasel, both from Natanpara village — have been missing for the past three days.
Earlier, on October 12, 5 kilograms of gold worth Tk 12 crore were allegedly stolen in Goalpra Bazar while being smuggled to India. Following that incident, the five rescued men were abducted. On October 21, Hasan’s father Shaukat Ali filed an abduction case with Jibannagar Police Station. The victims’ families also held a human chain and protest rally on November 1 demanding their rescue.
Jibannagar Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mamun Hossain Biswas confirmed the rescue and said they have no official report yet regarding the two new missing persons from Natanpara. “Police will take legal action once a complaint is filed,” he added.
