Ex-senior ICT secretary held in Ctg

Police have arrested former senior secretary of the ICT ministry NM Ziaul Alam from the Panchlaish area of Chattogram in a case filed over the allegation of selling citizens' National ID (NID) information.

He was arrested from a house of his relative from Panchlaish Residential area yesterday, Mohammad Solaiman, officer-in-charge of Panchlaish Police Station told The Daily Star.

"He was handed over to police in Dhaka," added the OC.

The allegation includes copying personal information of over 11 crore citizens, which is stored in the Election Commission's data centre.

Authorities believe the accused intended to profit from transferring this sensitive information to both domestic and foreign organisations, as well as public and private institutions.

Earlier, a case was filed against 19 people, including ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, and former state minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak on allegations of selling citizens' NID information.

Besides, another 15 to 20 unnamed individuals were accused in the case.

The case was filed with Kafrul Police Station under the Cyber Security Act, alleging embezzlement of around Tk 20,000 crore through the sale of data.