Rab action
Money exchangers say they had valid documents
Staff Correspondent
Owners of money exchange firms in Purana Paltan in the capital yesterday said Tuesday's Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) operation at their 'authorised firms' has damaged their reputation and caused huge losses to their business.A number of money exchangers termed the Rab raid 'unfortunate' and said members of the elite force seized local and foreign currencies although they had valid documents and permitted amount of money. They are now planning an agitation against the Rab action, they said. "We are thinking of an agitation against the raid on our authorised firms and seizure of legal currencies," said the owner of a money exchange firm seeking anonymity. Hardly any transaction took place yesterday at the firms at Shokh Shopping Complex as only a small number of clients visited them. All the nine authorised firms remained open but two firms running business without licence were closed. In a press release yesterday, Rab said during Tuesday's raid they seized about Tk 77 lakh, and out of it Tk 66 lakh while searching the bodies of money exchangers. Of the Tk 66 lakh, Bangladeshi currency is Tk 60.18 lakh, US $ 4,397, Indian rupee 84,605, Dubai currency 1,419, Bahrain currency 57, Kuwaiti dinar 27.75, Pakistani rupee 500, Hong Kong dollar 140, Saudi riyal 8,678, Malaysian currency 724, Oman currency 12.50, Australian dollar 60, Singapore dollar 148, British pound 11 and Japani yen 10,000. Rab also seized Tk 3,68,770 and foreign currencies worth Tk 2,57,043 found abandoned in the firms. The authorised money exchangers said the amount of money that Rab seized 'illegally' has been mentioned accurately in the seizure list. Rab filed a case with Motijheel Police Station under the Special Powers Act against 12 people in connection with the seizure of currencies. Nine of the arrestees are Palash, Hanif, Jahangir Alam, Reazul Islam, Tutul, Zakir Hossain, Tobarak Hossain, Saifuddin and Abu Naser. The three other accused now absconding are Chunni, Haque and Helal. The Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM), Dhaka, yesterday placed the arrestees on a two-day remand each. Motijheel police had produced the arrestees before the court seeking a seven-day remand for each. In the remand prayer, police said the arrestees are international hundi operators causing the country huge losses. There are no valid documents for the seized currencies, they claimed. Defence lawyers however said all the arrestees have licenses for their business and valid documents for the seized currencies.
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