Home ›› 08 Oct 2022 ›› Front
Muktar Hossain, who worked as a waiter in a restaurant in the capital 14 years ago, now has over Tk 100 crore and runs several bars in the capital and elsewhere.
His family members, including his wife and children, now live in the US where he has luxurious houses and cars. He amassed huge wealth by running illegal bars and selling banned foreign liquor of different brands.
His tale came to the fore after the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s (DMP) Detective Branch (DB) raided Kingfisher Restaurant, which also houses a bar, in the capital’s Uttara on Thursday night. The Uttara unit of the DB conducted the raid.
During the drive, police arrested 35 people, including the manager of the bar, but they could not capture restaurant owner Muktar, who is on the run. Over 6,000 cans of beer and 458 bottles of prohibited liquor of foreign brands were recovered from the illegal bar.
People from different walks of life, including government officials, lawyers, doctors, and other professionals, used to visit the bar every day, DB Additional Commissioner Mohammad Harun ar Rashid told a press conference at the DMP Media Centre on Friday.
He said Muktar started working as a waiter at the Avenue restaurant in Baridhara around 2008.
“After that, he worked as a waiter at the Lake View Restaurant in Gulshan. He now has over Tk 100 crore in his possession. Apart from the one in Uttara, he has at least five bars in Mirpur, Gulshan, and Narayanganj.”
On Thursday night, the DB raided house 39 on Gareeb-E-Newaz Avenue in Uttara sector-13. The restaurant and the bar are located in that building.
Harun ar Rashid said, “We had secret information that boys and girls were having a DJ party in the name of singing and playing in that building. At the same time, a lot of liquor was being sold there.”
“On receiving the information, a raid was conducted there. When the DB team went to the seventh floor of the building, many boys and girls ran and tried to escape. Police then went inside and found a lot of prohibited foreign liquor as well as beer.”
Harun ar Rashid further said the DB team had visited the 5th and 6th floors of the building and found a similar situation.
“A lot of expensive and banned foreign liquor and beer was found there. However, the bar authorities could not provide any information about how that liquor was imported.”
The DB police waited at the building from 9pm to 2am to see the import documents, but the bar authorities failed to show those.
Afterwards, 35 people were arrested from the bar. A case was filed against them with the Uttara West Police Station.
DB official Harun ar Rashid also said police had sent the 35 arrestees to the court with a plea of a seven-day remand for each in the case.
Allegations against Kingfisher Restaurant in Gulshan
Kingfisher Restaurant has a branch in Gulshan, which houses a bar as well. There are allegations that customers of the bar get drunk and disturb the guests, including foreigners, staying in the nearby five-star hotels as well as the residents of the Gulshan area.
The bar-cum-restaurant is located on Road 45, and its customers are allegedly involved in different kinds of illegal activities as well, including mugging on roads 36 and 45 in this posh area of the capital.
The local and foreign guests staying in the nearby luxurious hotels have allegedly been facing disturbances because of the activities of Kingfisher’s drunken customers for a long time.
It has been alleged that due to the unruly behaviour of these customers, the residents of roads 36 and 45 as well as the guests, including foreigners and staff, of the nearby hotels do not feel safe.
The Business Post has found a video clip that shows a drunken customer of the bar has attacked a young woman near a five-star hotel on Road 45. The youth indiscriminately beat up the woman, who was sitting in a rickshaw.
Later, locals and police captured the youth and rescued the woman. Locals said such incidents are common in the area and the drunken customers of Kingfisher bar disturb people on the road.
This has angered the residents of the nearby areas, and they have complained to the law enforcement agency, requesting them to take necessary measures against the bar authorities.
On July 13 this year, the authorities of a five-star hotel in the area sent a letter to the DMP commissioner, urging him to keep the activities of Kingfisher Restaurant and the bar under strict surveillance.
They also urged police to increase security for local and foreign guests as well as overseas employees of the five-star hotels and residents of the Gulshan area.
They said in the letter their hotel has been successfully providing hospitality and accommodation services for foreign and locals guests, diplomats, very important persons (VIPs), commercially important persons (CIPs), ministers, chief executive officers (CEOs) of multinational organisations, and officials engaged in various development projects across the country.
It has been observed that the customers of Kingfisher Restaurant and the bar are causing unpleasant incidents, such as beating up people, vandalism, and mugging on roads 36 and 45, the letter read.
It said the bar is open late into the night. Besides, the situation there goes out of control every Thursday. The bar is open even on Fridays.
Apart from this, there are also allegations that illegal and unethical activities take place at the bar occasionally.
In this situation, the local and foreign guests staying in other hotels, the officials and employees of those hotels, and the general people are scared and also have safety concerns. This has raised questions about the security standards of diplomatic areas like Gulshan, the letter said.
It said attention had been sought from the appropriate authorities to take strict measures, including increasing police surveillance and security at the Kingfisher bar as well as stopping unpleasant incidents caused by the bar’s drunken customers.
