Pori Moni held after Rab raids her home

Rab yesterday detained popular actress Pori Moni after raiding her flat in the capital's Banani.

Lt Col Khairul Islam, director of Rab's intelligence wing, said the officers recovered large quantities of Ice, LSD and foreign liquor from the flat.

The narcotics and liquor were kept in showcases, cabinets and on tables, he told The Daily Star.

Pori Moni went live on Facebook around 4:00pm, saying that a group of people entered her building and were knocking on her door.

She said she contacted police but did not get any response.

"Please help me… I don't know [what's going on]. Will you [police, journalists] come after I am dead? I might just die from a heart attack or a stroke. This is nothing but torture," she said on the live video.

The live stream went on until around 4:30pm, when she, accompanied by a relative, opened the door to a team of Rab officers.

The 31-minute live stream ended after the law enforcers entered her flat and requested her to stop it.

A Rab-1 official said the raid by members of Rab Headquarters began around 4:00pm.

Meanwhile, curious onlookers and journalists formed such a crowd in front of the building where she lives that residents of the neighbourhood had to use megaphones urging people to maintain social distance so as not to spread Covid-19.

At 8:10pm, Rab officials came out of the building with the actress and took her to the Rab Headquarters in Kurmitola.

The raid comes three days after police arrested models Faria Mahbub Piasha and Moriom Akter Mou with liquor and yaba pills.

Rab officials yesterday also detained two individuals associated with Piasha.  One of them is a businessman.

Officials said the detained individuals were in a gang that used to organise parties attended by models at flats in Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara areas where people used to take drugs. The suspects then took photos of the well-off participants of the parties and blackmailed them later into paying hefty sums.

Rab officials did not say whether Pori Moni was part of the gang.

Also last night, Rab detained movie producer and actor Nazrul Islam Raz, chairman of Raaz Multimedia, along with two others, in another raid on his house on Road-7, Banani, from 8:00pm to 10:30pm.

Rab sources said the officers recovered liquor, stimulating drugs and sex toys from the house. The detainees were taken to Rab Headquarters.

Raz was the producer of the first film featuring Pori Moni.

Rab spokesperson Khandaker Al Moin said Rab raided Raz's house after receiving information about his wrongdoings from Mishu Hasan, an associate of model Piasha.

Earlier on June 9, Pori Moni filed a case with Savar Police Station accusing Nasir U Mahmud, Tuhin Siddique Omi and three others of attempted rape and murder at Dhaka Boat Club.

In a separate incident, Gulshan's All Community Club President KM Alamgir Iqbal on June 16 told reporters: "She [Pori Moni] came to the club late on June 7. At the time, Pori Moni broke 15 glasses, nine ashtrays and some plates."

Pori Moni, whose real name is Shamsun Nahar Smriti, joined the movie industry in 2015. She played the lead female role in over 20 movies. Forbes magazine last year named her among the 100 Digital Stars from Asia.