Two members of ‘fraud gang’ held

Members of Detective Branch (DB) of Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) claimed to have identified several gangs that use mobile financial service to defraud people, and arrested two operatives of a gang.

The arrestees are Mithun Kumar Bala (26) and Hamidul Islam Molla (22), both hailing from Madaripur, said police.

Hamidul was held from port city's New Mooring area, and after receiving information from him, law enforcers conducted a two-day drive in different parts of Madaripur and arrested Mithun from Goaldah village.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC, South) Shah Md Abdur Rauf told the newspaper yesterday that while investigating a bKash fraud case filed with EPZ Police Station, police found  links to 135 other fraudsters residing in Goaldah and Mehespur villages  of Madaripur, and local police are trying to arrest them, as  allegations have piled up against them.

Mohammed Salam Kabir, deputy commissioner (DC, North Zone) of CMP DB,  told The Daily Star, "DB police identified a gang while investigating the case and conducted drives to  arrest the members from June 12 [Saturday]."

"Roaming different  districts, the gang's agent first collected transaction data from bKash  agents, and later, phoned the account-holders, introducing themselves as  bKash representatives from the organisation's call centre," the DC  said.

ADC Rauf said, "Hamid is the agent, and Mithun is the gang leader."

The group mainly targeted busy areas like EPZ or places with low-income  population, as it is easy to get their information, he said.

Police will interrogate the arrestees after taking them into remand, he added.