Airport Armed Police Battalion (APBn) detained two men with 475.6 grams of gold jewellery worth an estimated 75.62 lakh taka at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Tuesday.

The detainees were identified as Khairul Hasan Akon, 29, and Sheikh Ariful Islam, 46.

Airport APBn said its personnel spotted the two moving suspiciously near the exit on the ground floor of the airport’s multi-storey car park at around 9:45am. They allegedly tried to flee after noticing police but were detained.

A subsequent search recovered 475.6 grams, or 40.78 bhori, of 21-carat gold jewellery from their possession.

During preliminary questioning, the two allegedly told investigators that unidentified passengers had brought the jewellery into Bangladesh from different countries and handed it over to them for smuggling, according to APBn.

Police also claimed the suspects had been involved in airport-based gold smuggling for some time.

A case was filed against the two with Airport Police Station under the Special Powers Act, 1974, over allegations of illegally bringing gold into the country and evading government revenue.

Airport APBn Superintendent of Police (Operations) Mohammad Nazir Ahmed Khan said the unit would continue operations against gold, drugs and other smuggling through the airport.