Forgers arrested while trying to steal Tk90cr

Eleven people were arrested yesterday for allegedly using fake documents to attempt to withdraw Tk90 crore from the Gulshan branch of Brac Bank.

Gulshan police station Inspector (Investigations) Firoz Kabir said the gang had attempted to use forged papers to withdraw money from an account belonging to a Bangladeshi expatriate living in the United States.

The arrestees are Hasibul Hasan, 34, Mirazul Islam, 34, Sabbir Rahman, 24, Md Nazrul Haque, 42, Shahabur Rahman Babul, 65, Khorshed Alam, 34, Delwar Hossain, 45, Selim Ahmed, 44, Shahajahan, 52, Kazi Shahadat Hossain, 57, and Mahbubur Rahman Kajol, 30.

Firoz said the forgers had tried to withdraw money from a Fixed Deposit Receipt (FDR) held by expatriate Saiful Islam.

The forgery gang had earlier submitted papers to the bank in order to carry out the withdrawal but bank officials detected that something was wrong.

Without notifying the gang of their suspicions, bank officials asked them to come to the branch yesterday, and also notified the police.

Initially, two of the suspected frauds came to the bank, but when told by the bank that many more people would be required to carry such a hefty amount, a further nine accomplices came to help. Police arrested all of them.

Asked if bank officials were involved, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Gulshan Division Deputy Commissioner Lutful Kabir said: “We are in the initial stages of the investigation.”

Iqbal’s eleven

According to police, the main counterfeiter is 57-year-old Kazi Shahadat Hossain, who runs a business importing A4 size paper.

The suspected forgers claimed they did not know each other and were separately involved in withdrawing money in three or four groups.

Shahadat, believed to be a key player in the attempted fraud, said: “I first came to know about the money from a man named Iqbal Ahmed who identified himself as a consultant of the bank.

“A few weeks ago, he said to me that one of his relatives, a US immigrant, had some deposits at Brac Bank. He suggested that we withdraw the money using a power of attorney.”

Iqbal has still not been arrested by police.

Shahadat said he came to know Iqbal six months ago. They are both from Barisal, he said.

“According to his [Iqbal’s] plan, I agreed to withdraw the money. Later, Iqbal brought a power of attorney form and told me to fill it out properly,” he added.

Shahadat claimed that he does not know the holder of the account.

Shahadat and Iqbal felt that to be successful they needed to bring more people into the scam.

According to Shahadat, more people joined with them in separate groups for different purposes.

Kajol joined the gang because, according to Shahadat, Kajol has a known contact at the bank.

Hasibul, an executive of an organisation called the Shuchinta Foundation, was brought into the group by Kajol. Hasibul is the most educated among them.

But the papers and documents the gang prepared failed to convince bank authorities.

Inspector Firoz told the Dhaka Tribune the arrestees were unknown to his police station, and police could not say whether the group was previously involved in a similar crime.

Source: dhakatribune