BCB director arrested due to illegal possession of alcohol
BCB director Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan has been taken in custody by the country’s police after he was found to have ublet space to carry on illegal betting apart from having unauthorized possession of alcohol. He acknowledged the crimes and blamed political pressures for having done the same.
A raid in the premises of the Mohammedan Sporting Club as a part of the crackdown by the Rapid Action Battalion, the elite division of Bangladesh’s anti-crime police force, has led to the arrest of it’s director-in-charge Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan. Also a director at the Bangladesh Cricket Board, Lokman is BCB's facilities management committee chairman and holds a lot of out and influence in the national cricketing circle.
The raid had initially led to discovery of evidence that suggested illegal gambling activities were prevalent in the club, before bottles of alcohol found led to the official’s arrest three days later. The total equipment seized consisted of two roulette tables, nine betting boards, walkie-talkies, knives and cash-counting machines. The daily Prothom Alo even reported RAB-2 commander Lt Col Ashik Billah as saying that Lokman was involved in the betting circuit and used to let out rooms for the same.
"We found five bottles of foreign liquor kept at his home without a license. He was arrested on charges of possessing the bottles of alcohol," Billah added, reported ESPNCricinfo.
A large scale crackdown was initiated in Dhaka on the 18th of September which has since seen multiple raids across the country’s capital city, responsible for closing down multiple illegal casinos and the arrest of around 150 people, including political leaders and eminent personalities such as Kalabagan club president Shafiqul Alam Feroz.
"Personally, I never support such illegal and immoral endeavours, but I was forced to give away the space due to political pressure," Lokman had explained to The Daily Star in an interview on September 24.