At least Tk 9 crore was deposited in a month in a single payment gateway used for online gambling, with the amount shared equally between two businessmen -- online gaming “kingpin” Salim Prodhan and his North Korean partner Doo, Rab said yesterday.

Sarwar-Bin-Quashem, commanding officer (CO) of Rab-1, in a media briefing yesterday afternoon after a 20-hour raids at the office and residence of Salim Prodhan in Gulshan and Banani, also said they discovered a few more online payment gateways.

The raids came after Salim was picked up from Hazrat Shahjalal Airport on Monday and he provided law enforcers with information related to the gambling operation. 

Rab CO Sarwar said a huge amount of money earned through the gambling operation was siphoned off from the country by Salim and Doo. 

“Sometimes they sent the amount through hundi [unofficial channels of transaction] and sometimes they carried the money themselves or made their associates do it,” the CO, who is also the director of legal and media wing of Rapid Action Battalion, added.  

During the raid, the law enforcers seized around Tk 29 lakh in cash, foreign currencies of 23 countries amounting to Tk 77.63 lakh, 32 cheque books of three banks, five master cards, two pieces of spotted deer hide and 48 bottles of foreign liquor.

One server, four laptops and a desktop computer used for the gambling operations were also seized during the raids, Rab said.

Salim’s assistant Md Akhtaruzzaman, who was the in-charge of the gambling site, and staffer Md Roman were also arrested.

Sarwar said cases would be filed under the Money laundering, the Foreign Currency Act, the Wildlife (Preservation and Security) Act and the Narcotics Control Act.    

After the drive, Rab sealed Salim’s Banani and Gulshan office and residence, said Rab magistrate Sarwoer Alam who led the drives. 

Sarwoer said they planned the operation after the cyber monitoring team of Rab-1 found some businessmen running online gambling games in Bangladesh. 

On Monday, they came to know that Salim Prodhan, the alleged kingpin of online gambling, was about to leave the country by air. Soon, Rab members reached the airport and offloaded him from the plane.

After primary interrogation the Rab, taking Salim with them, raided his office in Gulshan around 8:30pm on Monday and then his residence.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit of the central bank yesterday directed all banks to freeze the accounts of Salim Prodhan and all persons, and organisations affiliated with him for the next 30 days.

In its letter, the Bangladesh Bank asked all the banks to inform it immediately about all previous and current accounts opened in Salim’s name, or by persons or organisations affiliated with him, along with the details of transactions made within five working days.

FROM CARS TO CARDS

During primary interrogation, Salim Prodhan said he was born in Dhaka in 1973. 

He went to Japan in 1988 along with his brother and started an automobile business in partnership with some Japanese individuals. 

Salim later came to Thailand along with his Japanese partners and started a ship-breaking yard. 

During that time some Japanese individuals introduced him to North Korean citizen Doo, who asked him to open a construction business in Bangladesh, Rab said. 

“At the same time Doo advised him to open an online gambling business in Bangladesh. So, he opened two gaming sites, P24 and T21, in Bangladesh in 2018 and since then he had been running those,” Sarwar-Bin-Quashem said. 

“The Prodhan Group website mentioned that it was one of the first providers of B2B live casino solutions in Bangladesh, which proves he was engaged in the gambling business,” he added.

The Rab official said a player had to keep a certain amount of money in their account to be entitled to participate in the game. 

Elaborating further on the gaming system, Sarwar said if a player won, they would get back the amount. 

In case of loss, the betting amount would be deposited in one of three banks accounts through the payment gateway.

Salim’s assistant Akhteruzzaman used to withdraw the amount once a week and deposit the money in two other bank accounts from where it was laundered to foreign countries.

“Salim admitted to us that he used to send money to London at different times,” the Rab 1 CO said. 

Asked how many people were involved in online gambling, Sarwar-Bin-Quashem said they were still investigating the matter.

During the press briefing, Sarwar said Salim also claimed to be a close friend of businessman Giasuddin al Mamun. Mamum has been in jail since 2007.