Dhaka, Sep 11 (IANS) At least 70 people, including Chinese, Pakistani and Vietnamese nationals, were detained by Bangladesh police during a raid on a building in the Khulshi area of Chattogram district over allegations of their involvement in online scams and gambling, local media reported.
The raid, which began on Thursday night and continued for several hours, was conducted at a building reportedly rented by the group to operate the scam.
During the raid, police seized laptops, mobile phones and other electronic devices.
Speaking to Bangladesh’s newspaper The Daily Star, Khulshi Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Abdur Rahim said that the foreign nationals had taken the entire building on rent.
He added that many of those detained claimed to have entered Bangladesh around six weeks ago on visas on arrival.
Reports suggest that police are examining whether the detainees possess valid passports and visas and whether any of them were residing in Bangladesh for work. Their identities, nationalities and alleged links to the activities are also being verified.
Citing a source familiar with the operation, Times of Bangladesh reported that law enforcement had earlier received information about the frequent movement of foreign nationals, substantial financial transactions and alleged casino-like activities at the premises, though police have not officially confirmed the allegations.
This latest operation came days after Bangladesh police arrested six people, including five Chinese and one Taiwanese national, following a raid on a hotel in Cox’s Bazar district that uncovered what investigators believe could be one of the country’s largest organised cyber-fraud operations, a report has stated.
It noted that the six suspects were charged with online fraud and cybercrime and sent to jail after being produced before a Cox’s Bazar court on September 4.
The raid led to the seizure of nearly 2,000 iPhones, dozens of laptops and desktop computers, and a specially designed facility reportedly used to operate hundreds of online identities.
Police said around 250 to 300 others, mainly Chinese and Taiwanese nationals, are still at large, including several wanted fugitives suspected of organising the network, according to a report in The Daily Star.
“The operation raises a question that extends beyond Cox's Bazar: is Bangladesh beginning to develop the kind of criminal ecosystem that has already turned parts of South and South-east Asia into major centres of transnational fraud? There is not yet enough evidence to suggest that Bangladesh has become a regional scam hub on the scale of Cambodia or Myanmar. But the Cox's Bazar case could be an early indication of a problem that, once established, can prove considerably harder to contain,” the report detailed.
It highlighted several vulnerabilities in Bangladesh that have enabled such networks to establish themselves, including relatively easy entry for foreign nationals, weak monitoring of rented properties, limited cybercrime investigation capabilities, and the availability of local facilitators.
--IANS
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