6 Ukrainians held over ATM fraud

Police have arrested six Ukrainians from a city hotel over their involvement in withdrawing cash from an ATM through illegal means.

They were arrested from Hotel Olio Dream Heaven at Panthapath on Saturday, Shahidur Rahman, additional deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s detective branch (east), told The Daily Star.

The detainees are: Valentine, Oleg, Dennis, Nazari, Sergei and Volobihain. They were taken to DB office on Minto Road for further interrogation.

According to police and bank sources, two foreign nationals withdrew Tk 3 lakh from a Dutch-Bangla Bank ATM booth in Badda, and left some cash lying around on Friday.

The security guard at the booth informed bank authorities, who checked the CCTV footage and saw that two men were withdrawing the money. No account of that transaction has been recorded in bank server.

The same men then went to another booth in Khilgaon on Saturday, wearing masks and caps. The security guard became suspicious and called locals for help, who were able to catch one of them.

Police raided the hotel based on information provided by him and arrested the six alleged fraudsters. One member of the fraud ring is still on the run, said the official.

He said seven people came from Ukraine together. Among them, one Vitaly escaped when he learned about the raid. The airport immigration has been alerted, he said.

A case was filed in this connection.

‘NEW TECHNOLOGY USED’

Abul Kashem Md Shirin, managing director of Dutch-Bangla Bank, said the fraudsters used a new kind of technology to withdraw cash from ATM.

“They did not use skimming devices to clone cards. They took the money out of the ATM’s vault,” he told The Daily Star yesterday. “We have to find out the technology they used. Forensic experts are working on it,” he said.