Investigative Stories
How Hasina’s flight was kept off radar
When the air force transporter plane carrying Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka on August 5, it took off as a training flight and turned off its transponders to blur its flightpath and location..The transponders, which transmit location, heading
The Daily Star Investigation / A councillor and his illicit tobacco trade
A significant share of Bangladesh’s illegal cigarette market is controlled by two companies where Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) Councillor Abdus Sabur Liton and his brother have the majority stakes, an investigation by The Daily Star has found.
20 plates of rice, 118 plates of curries for a lunch of 4!
NRBC Bank’s top managers have great appetites.
The Daily Star Investigation / Dubious reward for a select few
Only a select 27 employees of NRBC Bank were given salary hikes, and that too astonishingly, in 2022 in violation of banking rules as well as NRBC’s own human resources policy
The Daily Star Investigation / NRBC branch covered up capital flight
Export proceeds worth at least $3.45 million (Tk 34.41 crore) were not repatriated by six customers of NRB Commercial Bank’s Uttara branch, and the bank concealed the trail of the capital flight, according to the bank’s internal audit and case documents.
The Daily Star Investigation / Gun in NRBC Bank boardroom
During the 40th board meeting of NRBC Bank on February 7, 2016, current Chairman Tamal Parvez and Director Adnan Imam entered the boardroom accompanied by a man carrying a large gun. Both Tamal and Adnan were board directors back then.
Star investigation / Sex trafficking: The untold exploitations of Bangladeshi women in India
Many Bangladeshi sex workers, once victims themselves, now serve as brothel managers, perpetuating the vicious cycle. They employ fellow countrywomen, who later become traffickers responsible for bringing new girls from Bangladesh into the clutches of these brothels.
Part-4 / No coming home
After rescuing trafficking victims, the Indian police do not take them to shelter centre; they file cases under criminal laws.
Licence of lies
It is a piece of paper full of lies and yet it is the legal government document that allows a person to drink alcohol in Bangladesh.
Out of watch with legal shield
Almost every time any government agency tried to ensure accountability and transparency of the duty-free liquor trade, it found itself in a legal limbo. Over the last two decades, diplomatic bonded warehouses, who import duty-free liquor for diplomats and foreigners, filed writ after writ with the High Court challenging the legality of the government action.
GIVEN BY GHOSTS
Officially, most bars and social clubs neither import nor purchase alcohol yet they log huge sales; restrictive law, high import tariff, bureaucratic nightmare encouraging smuggling; govt loses big, earning almost nothing out of this trade.
Shocking swindling by shoe exporter
“Oh my God! Incredulous!” was the expression of a banking expert as he leafed through the Bangladesh Bank probe report. Page after page of it explains in painstaking details how a Bangladeshi business entity allegedly skimmed at least Tk 765 crore in the name of exports from the state-owned Janata Bank and the BB from January 2017 to February this year.
YABA out of control
It's now a national crisis. The influx of deadly yaba appears to have gone beyond control despite efforts by law enforcement agencies to contain it.
Yaba Invasion-3: Living in DRUG ZONE
Millions are now addicted to the pink pills. They take it as stimulant and end up with organ damage and mental derangement. The Daily Star has prepared a three-part series on the invasion of yaba and is running the third part today.
Yaba Invasion-2: An open affair with death
It was like wooing customers to have kebab and biriyani at popular Bihari restaurants. Only a few steps into the Camper Bazar, youths in small groups were looking for potential customers, holding packets full of pink tablets.
Yaba invasion -1: Hostage to Myanmar
It's called crazy medicine. Produced in Myanmar, the dangerous drug very easily crosses the border and reaches cities, towns and villages of Bangladesh through various channels -- sometimes in full knowledge of law enforcers. It now seems unstoppable and is poised to cripple the country's biggest hope -- the youth.
Watch out!
The figures are alarming. Every year, an estimated Tk 6,000 crore worth of yaba is sold in the country, which would come to 30 crore pieces of the drug. It is a back-of-the-envelope calculation. Last year, 40 million pills were seized by different agencies, which according to standard calculation is about 10 percent of the total drug that got into the market.
JUTE DAY TODAY: Reality vs labour law
Every time he extends his hands to seek alms, Sohrab Hossain, 63, looks embarrassed. Begging has never been his livelihood; it is now.