The central bank recently sent letters to all banks asking them to submit reports on their [the eleven importers] volume of import, import items and other import-related information from January 2004 to August 2006.

The importers are Arif Gaffar, Harun Gaffar, Sabbir Gaffar, Eusuf Gaffar, Gaffar Food Products, Royal Engineering, Mecca Poultry, Joynab Works, Bashundhara Overseas, Eusuf Poultry and Fish Feed, and Kustia Flour Mills.

Sources said the BB took the move following recent media reports on 'money laundering by some importers'.

Meanwhile, the central bank in another letter to the commercial banks wanted to know whether a person called Abd Al-Hamid Sulaiman Al- Mujid and two enterprises called Entity and Aliases have any banking transactions with any banks operating in Bangladesh.

The sources said the BB took the move after the UN sought information about them from Bangladesh government.