They had seized 235 gold bars from an abandoned car in the city's Rampura area over four and a half years ago, but they deposited only 70 with police and swiped the rest.

The law has now caught up with them.

A Dhaka court yesterday sentenced three former policemen of Rampura Police Station to five years' rigorous imprisonment each in a case filed in this regard.

The convicts are suspended former sub-inspector Manjurul Islam and constables Md Akash Chowdhury and Wahiduzzaman. 

The court also jailed police informer Mahfuzul Alam Rony for three years on the same charges.   

Of the four, Manjurul is now behind bars. The others went into hiding after securing bail from the High Court.

Judge Mizanur Rahman Khan of the Special Judge for Dhaka Division delivered the verdict after examining all 24 prosecution witnesses.

The punishment of the fugitives would be effective from the day of their arrest or surrender, said the court.

According to the case statement, a gang of smugglers had abandoned the car in Banasree area on March 13, 2014, after being chased by a police team, led by Manjurul. The team seized 235 gold bars, but the Rampura police recorded seizure of only 70.

Three days later, car driver Samir Biswas along with alleged smuggler Jahid Hossain went to Rampura Police Station to get back the car.

As police arrested the duo, Samir claimed that there were 235 gold bars in the car.

On March 18, Rampura police filed a case in this regard.

A few days later, Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police was tasked with probing the incident.

Detectives recovered 58 of the gold bars from the house of Manjurul's relative in Narayanganj, 63 from Wahid's house in Bogura's Sonatola, 14 from the house of Akash's father-in-law in Gazipur's Kaliakoir, and 14 from Rony's possession. The three cops and the police informer were arrested.

The case was later transferred to the Anti-Corruption Commission.

After probing the case, the graft watchdog in 2015 pressed charges against the three cops and the informer for their involvement in the incident.