[chottala.com] Mobile court raids Bangladesh British-American Tobacco headquarters in city.

Mobile court raids British-American Tobacco headquarters in city     DHAKA, Jan 20 (BSS) - A mobile court today raided the headquarters of the leading tobacco business firm- British American Tobacco (BAT)- to check whether the multinational company is abiding by the ethical and legal guidelines. Magistrate Mohammad Al Amin, who led the team, said acting on a tip off, they seized the company's Mohakhali headquarters for 40 minutes at around 2.15 pm, but could not unearth anything wrong, excepting a dispute over the sale of `Benson Light' band of the company. "We were informed that BAT has been doing unethical business using the word `Light' to make smokers foolish who wish to have cigarettes with less nicotine," Al Amin told BSS over phone, adding the company lawyers on the spot, however, defended their acts as legal. "We are using the word LIGHT as a brand name not to give people an impression of cigars with low nicotine," Amin quoted a company official as saying to the mobile court. He said the court would look into the legal aspects of the issue and recommend the health ministry for necessary amendments to the anti-tobacco law. Anti-Tobacco campaigners in capital Dhaka expressed their concern over BAT's, what they said tactics to befool smokers, who usually perceive that the Light brand of the Benson cigars contain low nicotine. "It doesn't matter whether it's a brand name or a deliberate company attempt to mislead smokers. The word should be removed from BAT cigar packets," said an anti-tobacco campaigner, preferring anonymity. He also expressed his utter frustration over existing provision of Taka 1,000 fine for violation of the government rules. The campaigner said authorities have conducted a separate raid in Gazipur factory of Navy brand cigarettes last month and found gross irregularities there, but fined only Taka 2,000 for illegal activities of the private company. The loopholes and lax provisions of anti-tobacco rules have been encouraging companies to run their businesses unabated, he added. Bangladesh is one of the leading countries to ban smoking in public places, but the number of smokers are growing, mostly youngsters. The tobacco companies contribute a big amount of tax to national exchequers, but public health experts say the cost of treatments of tobacco-related diseases overshadows the economic benefits. Syed Saiful alam shovan1209@yahoo.com +8801552442814

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