National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan has said the authorities have banned the import of casino equipment in the country in the wake of ongoing drives against casino and wrongdoers.
“After the recent drives of law enforcement agencies, we came to know about gambling in the country. We have given a verbal instruction to our customs officials to stop releasing casino equipment from ports,” he said while exchanging views with journalists over the recent issues at the NBR headquarters on Thursday.
He said the NBR has taken actions against the import of casino materials as per the country’s constitution that has envisaged prohibition of the import of materials seemingly hurting the religious sentiment.
“Casino materials are not included in the list of import-prohibited products. But, our constitution has banned the import of such equipment. So, we asked the concerned officials to stop the import of casino materials,” he added.
The NBR will also take steps for bringing necessary amendments to the existing import policy aimed at preventing the import of casino materials for good, he said.
The NBR will also send a letter to the Commerce Ministry for including the casino equipment in the import-prohibited products list.
The CIID is searching to bring the importers of casino materials to light, he said.
The NBR has called for 20 bank accounts of the eight allegedly arrested persons and their family members for finding out any irregularities. “We have already instructed to freeze bank accounts of those at fault,” he added.