The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested five people for their alleged involvement in an organised racket operating online betting and gambling websites in Narsingdi.
A special team of the Cyber Investigation and Operations Unit of CID’s Cyber Police Centre conducted raids in different parts of Narsingdi from Tuesday evening to Wednesday and arrested them, said a CID press release on Thursday.
The arrestees are Rafiqul Islam, 46; Md Sohel, 37; Md Shafiqul Islam, 27; Md Rubel Mollaya, 33; and Ayub Hossain Ripon, 48. All are residents of Narsingdi.
Rafiqul was arrested from the Railgate College Market area under Raipura Police Station, Sohel from the Moulvi Bari area of Noaadia village under Monohardi Police Station, and Shafiqul and Rubel from the Raju Tower area in front of Monohardi Police Station.
Ayub was arrested from the Noyadarakandia area under Monohardi Police Station.
CID said it seized nine mobile phones, 20 SIM cards, cheque books of different banks and other important evidence from their possession.
According to the case statement, CID’s Cyber Police Centre detected during cyber monitoring that an organised group, with members operating both inside and outside Bangladesh, had been running online betting and gambling websites under different names for a long time.
The websites allegedly facilitated betting on international cricket, football and other sporting events in exchange for money. The group also promoted and advertised the gambling platforms through social media and other online platforms, CID said.
The investigation found that users of the betting sites were required to make top-ups or deposits to participate in online gambling. The sites instructed users to deposit money through mobile financial services such as bKash, Nagad, Rocket and Upay, as well as bank accounts and cryptocurrency.
After deposits were made, equivalent amounts of e-money or “bot money” were reportedly credited to users’ betting accounts for use in gambling.
CID said the group used MFS agent numbers and bank accounts to facilitate deposits and withdrawals, frequently changing the numbers and accounts.
The group allegedly recruited agents in different parts of the country to collect MFS numbers and bank account details and then supplied the information to betting website operators through Telegram and other communication platforms.
According to the preliminary investigation, money collected through illegal electronic transactions was pooled by agents, who retained commissions before transferring the remaining funds through bank accounts and converting them into cryptocurrency for possible transfer abroad.
CID filed a case with Paltan Model Police Station under Sections 20(2), 21(2), 24(2) and 27(2) of the Cyber Security Act 2026.