Jewellers observe strike, looted gold yet to be recovered
Staff Correspondent
Around five thousand jewellers yesterday kept their shutters down in the capital protesting Saturday's 4,000-tola gold ornaments heist at Venus Jewellers at Navana Shopping Complex in Gulshan, which are yet to be recovered. Bangladesh Jewellers' Association called the strike. The traders gave a seven-day ultimatum to recover the heisted jewellery and to probe the earlier robberies, otherwise they threatened to go for tougher programmes. Several thousand traders held a demonstration in front of Baitul Mokarram Market yesterday noon and circled the streets of adjacent areas before police barred them at Topkhana Road on the way to the Jatiya Press Club. Representatives of the traders' bodies then submitted a memorandum to home ministry stating their demands. Meanwhile, the heist case, filed with the Gulshan Police Station by the owner of Venus Jewellers Gangacharan Malakar, was shifted to Detective Branch (DB) of police Sunday night. Investigation Officer (IO) Inspector Sirajul Islam of DB yesterday produced 19 arrestees before the court with a 10-day remand prayer. The court granted six days. "We arrested a few more except the guards of the market today [Monday] on suspicion," the IO told The Daily Star. "But we are yet to recover anything," he added. Meanwhile, police suspended Sub-Inspector Rezaul Haq of Gulshan Police Station, who was in charge of the area Saturday night, for his failure to make the market secure. Burglars heisted gold ornaments weighing about 4,000 tolas and other valuables worth about Tk 5 crore, breaking through the ceiling of the 15-storey shopping complex Saturday night.
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