149 bhori gold go missing from Islami Bank locker in Chattogram

About 149 bhori of gold ornaments weighing 1,738g, belonging to a client have gone missing from a locker of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited's Chawkbazar branch in Chittagong.

The client, Rabeya Bari said she is set to file a case in this regard on Monday. The incident was discovered in the afternoon of May 29 when she went to the bank and found her designated locker open.

Later, she found a huge amount of gold ornaments missing from the locker.

AM Shafiqul Mawla Chowdhury, head of the bank's Chawkbazar branch, said that the complaint of the aggrieved customer is being investigated internally. The matter has also been informed to the higher authorities. Affected customers will be notified the progress of the investigation on Monday (June 3).

As per Bangladesh Bank rules, no record is kept of what and how much a customer keeps in the locker. Only a written statement is taken from the client about not possessing firearms and inflammable materials.

He also said that if any such incident happens, the victim customer gets insurance coverage. In this case, the customer will get Tk 1 lakh for small locker, Tk 2 lakh for medium locker and Tk 3 lakh for big locker. In other words, the victim Rabeya will get about one and a half hundred loads of gold for only two lakh taka as she had a medium-sized locker.

Rabeya Bari said that 160 bhoris of gold were kept in the locker of this branch of Islami Bank for the last 17 years. Among those, she got only 11 bhoris in the locker. Among the stolen gold were 40 pieces of bangles, neck and ear rings, necklaces, chains, rings and earrings, she said.