Recruitment racket that ‘made crores’ busted in Dhaka

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police claimed to have arrested four members of a fake recruitment racket, who embezzled crores of money by promising jobseekers jobs at Biman Bangladesh Airlines or government offices.

CID arrested the four in different drives in Dhaka on Wednesday, said CID Additional DIG Sheikh Omar Farooq at a press briefing yesterday at its headquarters in Malibagh.

The arrestees are -- Shamim Ahmed alias Mostafa Monir alias Mosharraf (45), Tanzila Sultana Somampti (25), Shariful Islam (37) and Bazlur Rashid (48).

The CID official said Shamim was the ringleader of the gang. He used to work at a clearing and forwarding (C&F) company. He has embezzled more than Tk 80 lakh, according to CID.

Shamim used to identify himself as the acting chairman or managing director of Biman while Tanzila claimed to be a flight attendant and ticketing officer. Bazlur told everyone he was Shamim's bodyguard, the official said.

The members of this gang used to target jobseekers if there was a circular for recruitment at the airline. From each candidate, they used TO take Tk 13-16 lakh, he said.

In order to gain trust of job seekers, they used to conduct fake exams and show that everyone failed. Then they demanded money from them by promising to hire them, the CID official said.

They also promised them of job training.

"A jobseeker named Sohanur Rahman paid Tk 13 lakh to Shamim in 2019 for a job as an assistant director at Biman. He got cheated by this gang and later filed a case with Khilkhet Police Station on Wednesday," said the official. 

The four were shown arrested in the case, he added.

Omar Farooq said Shamim through his job at the C&F company got to know many people at the airport. Later, he quit his job and started the fake recruitment racket.

In primary interrogation, Shamim, however, told the CID that he had contacts with senior Biman officials and has previously employed several people as cabin crew, executive officer, signal man, checking officer and executive manager.

However, he could not do so this time, he added.

Omar Farooq said, "The accused has revealed involvement of some Biman officials. We are looking into it."

Meanwhile, according to CID, Tanzila used to post pictures wearing uniform of a cabin crew on her Facebook page and once flew to Saidpur to win the trust of jobseekers.

Bazlur Rashid, who introduced himself as Shamim's bodyguard, used to be a member of Rapid Action Battalion, who was fired and jailed for eight years in a robbery case in 2007, the CID official said.

CID also seized fake appointment letters and uniforms from the arrestees.