The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has arrested six men for laundering millions of money to places outside Bangladesh using online gambling apps such as ‘Teen Patti Gold’.
The arrestees were identified as Jamilur Rashid, 31, Simon Hossain, 29, Md Ridwan Ahmed, 29, Md Rakibul Alam, 29, Md Muntakim Ahmed, 37, and Kayes Uddin Ahmed, 32, according to bdnews24.com.
They were arrested from the Mohakhali and Uttara areas of the capital on Sunday night, the elite force said at a media briefing at the RAB Media Centre in Karwan Bazar on Monday.
Jamilur Rashid, CEO of Ulka Games Limited, was identified as the ‘prime suspect’ of the money laundering ring, said Commander Khandaker Al Moin, a RAB spokesman.
“The RAB Cyber Monitoring Team has stepped up its vigilance and efforts to bring those involved in online casinos to justice,” he said.
The RAB previously arrested Selim Prodhan, the ringleader of many online casinos.
Many companies were taking in foreign investment under the guise of gaming development and then using online gambling apps to launder millions of taka abroad, RAB said.
Ulka Games Limited founder and CEO Jamilur Rashid got involved with a company called ‘Moonfrog Lab’ from a neighbouring country in 2017.
He was then hired as Moonfrog Lab’s Bangladeshi representative in 2018.
Moonfrog Lab then attempted to popularise the ‘Teen Patti Gold’ app in Bangladesh.
Ulka Games got permission to develop gaming apps, but did not have permits to run online gambling or casinos. Instead, they provided false information to authorities.
The ‘Teen Patti Gold’ app is usually played on mobile phones. In addition to it, the company also added a number of other online gambling apps called ‘Rakhi’, ‘Andar Bahar’ and ‘Poker’.
The apps gave out some ‘free chips’ to new players so they could take part in gambling games, but after they ran out, users would have to purchase more chips using money.
The ‘Teen Patti Gold’ app had nearly 900,000 regular players and sold close to Tk 3 million in chips every day, Al Moin said.
