Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) have arrested gold and car trader Monir Hossain, locally known as Golden Monir, for possession of illegal assets, firearms and narcotics.

The elite force arrested him from his Merul Badda home during an overnight raid led by RAB-3 Executive Magistrate Palash Kumar Basu.

RAB Legal and Media wing chief Lt Col Ashik Billah came up with the information  at a press briefing on Saturday.

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

Foreign currencies of 10 countries worth Tk 9 lakh, around 600 tolas of gold weighing 8 kg and cash Tk 1.9 crore were recovered from his possession, said Ashik Billah.

He said Monir Hossain , a hundi trader  and also a land broker, is locally known as ‘Golden Monir’ and RAB found his involvement in gold smuggling, he said.

He is an owner of a car showroom, he added.

“In 1990s he was a salesman in a shop at Gausia Market and later he started cookeries and luggage business. He used to import goods from different countries dodging tax. He also got involved in gold smuggling through Dhaka-Singapore and India,” said Ashik.