RAB in search of sex rackets

Intelligence agencies are looking beyond expelled Jubo Mahila League leader Shamima Nur Papiya for other gangs that might be active with their anti-social activities in posh areas of the capital city.
A senior Intelligence official told the Daily Observer on Wednesday that they are in search of other rackets involved in sex trade, arms racket and gambling dens in the style of the recently arrested Papiya, a former  leader of the an associate body of the Awami League.
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested Jubo Mahila League leader Papiya and her gang members, who were connected to high government officials and the ruling party members.
Her gang used female models to amass huge wealth with favours from or by blackmailing the high ups of the society, sources said.
According to sources, these rackets hire highly sought after female models from countries as far as Russia, Ukraine and Vietnam. They also employ amply paid female models from Bangladesh to run their nefarious activities. Similar gangs were known to have supplied girl attendants in the now closed casinos in the capital, sources added.  
Like Papiya other rackets are also believed to have cultivated good relations with high government officials and powerful party leaders by arranging attractive models from foreign countries for their entertainment.  
RAB launched a raid in some sporting clubs in Dhaka on September 18 in 2019.
The establishments appeared so lavish that people began to wonder if police officials were letting the casinos operate with kickbacks in commissions or shares.
During the drive styled crackdown against casino and corruption, law
enforcement agencies conducted around 50 raids across the country where 275 people were arrested for their alleged involvement. Of them, some 11 people, including Dhaka Metropolitan South unit Jubo League president Ismail Hossain Chowdhury alias Samrat, were arrested in the drive.
At a joint meeting of the Awami League on September 7, Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina had directed to launch anti-corruption operation inside the party.
Following the directive, RAB raided at least six illegally run casinos including ones running inside the Fakirerpool Youngmen's Club, Dhaka Wanderers' Club, Muktijoddha Sangsad Krira Chakra in Dhaka city and arrested an Awami Jubo League leader Khalid Mahmud Bhuiyan, later expelled from the organization, who allegedly ran one of those establishments.
Some leaders and activists think that the anti-casino and purification drive was started to warn top leaders of the Jubo League.
However, the warning apparently fell in deaf ears and created a monster like Shamima Nur Papiya.
Among the names that surfaced in the anti-casino drive was that of Dhaka South Jubo League President Ismail Chowdhury Samrat, who was later expelled from the organization following his arrest by RAB. He had been termed as the kingpin of the casino business.