A RAB team seizes several crores of taka in cash and gold jewellery during a raid on houses of Awami League leaders Enamul Haque and Rupom Bhuiyan, also Enamul’s brother, at Banianagar of Gendaria in Dhaka on Tuesday. — Indrajit Kumer Ghosh
At least Tk 5 crore and 5 lakh in cash and 730 bharis of gold were seized from the houses of Awami League’s local-level leader Enamul Huq Enu, his associates and employees in the capital’s Gendaria, Dholaikhal and Narinda areas during a daylong operation conducted by the Rapid Action Battalion in connection with the ‘casino’ business operated by ruling party leaders.
RAB-3 officials said that they also seized six firearms and ammunition from the houses of AL leader Enamul and his employee Abul Kalam.
As part of the ongoing crackdown against ‘casinos’ and illegal gambling, the RAB raided Enamul’s house, who is also a ‘shareholder’ of Wanderers Club, in Banianagar area at about 10:00. The operation continued for hours.
The RAB personnel seized Tk 1.05 crore in cash, 730 bharis of gold ornaments, three shotguns and two revolvers from three vaults in two flats of his house.
Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan, senior assistant director of RAB’s legal and media wing, told New Age on Tuesday night that none was arrested in the raid.
The RAB also raided one of the flats of Enamul’s brother Rupam Bhuiyan, a vice-president of Gandaria upazila AL unit.
Enamul is now abroad and Rupam on the run.
The two brothers were partners in the casino operation at Dhaka Wanderers Club in Motijheel area, which was raided last week and sealed off.
The elite force members in another raid on the house of Enamul’s employee Abul Kalam in Dholaikhal area seized Tk 2 crore in cash from a vault there.
The RAB members siezed another Tk 2 crore in cash from a vault in the house of one Harun, a close ally of Enamul, on Sharat Gupta Road in Narinda area at about 3:30pm.
The government, meanwhile, asked the immigration police to remain alert so that the Dhaka South Juba League president Ismail Hossain Chowdhury Samrat could not leave the country.
The whereabouts of Samrat, who allegedly runs casino-like gambling centres in the capital, has been unknown since September 18 when the RAB started raiding gambling centres in the capital.
His close fellow Khalid Mahmud Bhuiyan, organising secretary of the same AL unit, was arrested on September 18 and now was in police custody for interrogation.
The ruling Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader on Tuesday said that the government did not have any decision to bring casinos under the legal framework.
The AL spokesperson added that he therefore did not want to make any further comment on this issue at present.
Army chief General Aziz Ahmed and Dhaka South City mayor Mohammad Sayeed Khokon, meanwhile, on Tuesday hailed the prime minister for undertaking the on-going drive against casinos and gabling, and corruption.
‘Thank you Prime Minister for starting the drive,’ Sayeed Khokon said while talking with reporters at the Nagar Bhaban after a meeting with top officials of the city corporation agencies.
Source: New Age.
