Casino 'kingpin' Selim Prodhan, 8 others arrested over illegal shisha bar in Baridhara
A team from Gulshan Police Station arrested them from the restaurant early this morning (6 September), said Hafizur Rahaman, officer-in-charge of the police station.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has arrested casino "kingpin" Selim Prodhan along with eight others on charges of operating an illegal shisha bar at a restaurant in the capital's Baridhara.
A team from Gulshan Police Station arrested them from the restaurant early this morning (6 September), said Hafizur Rahaman, officer-in-charge of the police station.
"A case has been filed over the incident and the arrested individuals have been sent to court," he added.
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Selim, a controversial figure who came under the spotlight during the 2019 anti-casino drive, was previously arrested on 30 September that year from a Bangkok-bound Thai Airways flight at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
Later that night, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) raided his Gulshan office and residence, detaining his associates and seizing 48 bottles of foreign liquor, Tk28 lakh in cash, foreign currencies worth Tk77 lakh, 12 passports, 32 cheque books, a large gaming server, four laptops, and two deer hides.
On 1 October 2019, a RAB mobile court sentenced him to six months in jail for keeping deer hides. A few days later, a Dhaka court placed him and two cohorts on four-day remand in a narcotics case.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) later filed two cases against Selim for money laundering and possessing narcotics.
ACC investigations then revealed his involvement in seven companies, including Prodhan Global Trading, Asia United and Toma Home Pataya, as well as illegal transactions in Bangkok-based banks. The ACC subsequently froze 50 of his bank accounts and other assets in Bangladesh.
After spending four years in jail, he was released on bail in October 2023.
Selim, born and raised in Dhaka, had gone to Japan in 1988 with his elder brother to start a vehicle trading business, which failed. He later moved to Thailand, where he partnered with a North Korean national, Mr Duo, in ship-breaking and gambling ventures.
In 2017, Duo encouraged him to launch online casinos in Bangladesh. The following year, Selim established Prodhan Group in Dhaka, using it as a front for casino operations, alongside construction and spa businesses.
