Rab yesterday detained five suspected gold smugglers with 200 gold bars weighing around 23kg from Moinot Ghat area in Dohar.

Officers said the suspects were about to smuggle the bars into India through Jessore border.

Tipped off, a team of Rab-11 set up a check-post on a road in Moinot Ghat area around 8:00am.

The suspects, who were in two CNG-run three-wheelers, stopped the vehicles after seeing the check-post and tried to run away.

Rab members then chased and caught them, Rasel Ahmed Kabir, commanding officer of Rab-11, told a press conference at his office in Adamjee area of Narayanganj.

The detainees are Mohsin, 47, Firoz, 34, Siddique, 46, Mizan, 34, and Aminul, 40. They were also carrying Tk 26,000.

The Rab CO said the suspects had been involved with gold smuggling for a long time.

The elite force in the last 10 days seized 216 illegal gold bars weighing around 25kg in Narsingdi and Gabtoli area of the capital and arrested 11.