Syndicate embezzled loans worth Tk 20cr using fake docs: DB
Police's Detective Branch (DB) claimed to have arrested five members of a gang that embezzled bank loans by creating and using fake national identity (NID) cards, trade licences and TIN certificates.
Law enforcers have found that the syndicate embezzled loans from 11 financial institutions and banks so far, said police.
Sources said they have embezzled around Tk 20 crore loan from the financial institutes.
The members used to first target a bank's branch and go there to take a loan against a flat.
Before visits to the flat, the fraudsters would fix a signboard for sale, and then take bank officials there. Using information of a flat seller, the criminals would then forge NID cards, TIN certificates and trade licences.
With the help of a section of lower-rank Election Commission (EC) officials, the gang members would upload the forged NID card information to the servers, before submitting NID to the bank for verification. Soon after the bank would complete verification for loan, the gang would remove the information from the servers.
AKM Hafiz Akter, additional commissioner (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, made the disclosure while addressing a briefing at its media centre yesterday.
The arrestees are Al Amin alias Jamil Sharif (34), M Hasan Imam alias Bidyut (48), Abdullah Al Shahid (41), Rezaul Islam (38) and Shah Zaman (39).
Police arrested them from the capital's Khilgaon and Rampura areas on Tuesday. A private car used in the scam was seized.
Hafiz said a section of lower-rank employees of EC's NID wing were involved in the scam. "We have reported the issue to NID authorities. They have already sacked 44 employees."
Police said Dhaka Bank filed two separate cases with Khilgaon and Paltan police stations on December 8 and 12 for embezzling a loan of TK 1.70 crore against flats.
During investigation, detectives found that the arrestees are members of a professional fraud gang. They embezzled loans from various banks by forging documents.
The detectives first arrested a man named Biplob on Friday. During interrogation, he revealed the details of how the scam was carried out.
Intelligence officials said after preliminary interrogation, Biplob gave a confessional statement before court on Monday.
Al-Amin was first arrested based on Biplob's information. Later, police arrested the rest after Al-amin divulged information.
Hafiz Akhter said, "We are investigating how many more people were part of the syndicate, and whether any bank officials are involved."
"We may be able to give more information, after further investigation and interrogation of the arrestees," he said.
Earlier, EC's NID wing informed that it has identified around 1,057 people who have received NID card for a second time for ill motives. The wing has already blocked the cards, after filing around 556 cases against the card holders with EC's legal wing.