Members of Armed Police Battalion (APBn) said they have arrested the ringleader of a fraud gang involved in swindling passengers at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Tuesday night.
The arrestee was identified as Md Jabed, 47, son of Abdul Jabbar of Gazipur district. He had long been involved in swindling passengers and visitors coming to the airport, APBn said.
Additional Superintendent of APBn, Mohammad Ziaul Haque, said Jabed along with five-six members of his group had been deceiving people in the name of converting taka into US dollars and fleeing with passengers’ passport and luggage.
Recently, a complaint was lodged against Jabed with the Airport Police Station. He was involved in taking Tk 68,000 in cash through bKash from the relative of a Singapore-bound passenger Shafiqul Islam, according to the complaint.
Jabed made a phone call to the relatives of Shafiqul, imitating his voice, and asked to send the money urgently. Telling them that otherwise he will miss his flight, the Additional Superintendent of APBn said.
So far, police have arrested Jabed four times but after being in jail for several months and securing bail he went back to swindling people.
APBn also arrested Jabed’s aides and a process is on to take legal steps against them.