Tk1.2 lakh for passport: DB busts syndicate making forged docs for Rohingyas
Police also found the soft copies of delivery slips for 143 passports made for Rohingyas in the last three months
The Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has busted a 24-member crime syndicate that used to forge birth certificates, NID cards, and passports for convicted criminals and Rohingyas.
The syndicate charged Tk5,000-12,000 for fake birth certificates prepared within six hours, Tk25,000 for making an NID in three days, and Tk120,000 for a passport, DB Chief Harun-Or-Rashid said during a press briefing at DMP headquarters today.
The arrests were made on Friday and Sunday during a series of raids conducted by multiple teams of the Lalbagh division of DB in Dhaka, Tangail, and Cox's Bazar.
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Those arrested in the Friday raids in the capital's Agargaon, Mohammadpur, Jatrabari, and Badda included three Rohingyas and ten Bangladeshis.
During the subsequent raids on Sunday, based on the information obtained by those arrested on Friday, DB caught an additional ten individuals, including two Ansar members involved in this illegal operation and eight others from the broker network.
During the raids, the DB teams confiscated 17 passports, 13 NIDs, five computers, three printers, 24 mobile phones, and hundreds of documents from the custody of the arrestees.
Police also found the soft copies of delivery slips for 143 passports made for Rohingyas in the last three months.
Since 2019, the circle has admitted to making passports for Rohingyas and notorious Bangladeshi criminals under different names and addresses.
The gang utilised addresses across multiple districts including Dhaka, Narayanganj, Mymensingh, Rangpur, Shariatpur, Gopalganj, and Barisal districts for birth certificates and NIDs, based on which they used to make passports.
One section of the gang was responsible for transporting Rohingyas from Cox's Bazar, Bandarban, and Khagrachhari to Dhaka, while another facilitated the production of birth certificates and NID cards.
A third group managed the submission of applications, payment of fees for express services, and arrangement of biometrics and photographs at various regional passport offices with the help of Ansar members.
The arrestees have been placed on a five-day police remand.
