'143 Rohingya given Bangladeshi passport in 3 months'

A fraud gang has provided Bangladeshi passports and other documents to 143 Rohingya community people along with enlisted criminals in the last three months, said detectives.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s (DMP) additional commissioner (detective) Mohammad Harun-or-Rashid on Monday said the gang prepared the passports using the NID information of people living in remote areas and who are unlikely to go abroad.

He shared the information while addressing a media conference at the DMP media centre in the capital on Monday evening.

He said: "Twenty-three members of the ring have been detained. Of them, 13 persons, including three Rohingya women, were picked up by DMP’s Lalbagh Division detective members from the capital’s Agargaon, Mohammadpur, Jatrabari and Badda on Friday."

"Law enforcers seized documents to be used to prepare passports, prepared passports, and computers from their possession. Acting on the information given by them, another eight members, including two Ansar members, of the ring were detained from Cox’s Bazar, Tangail and Dhaka onSunday," he added.

All of the people who were detained on Friday were placed on five-day police remand for further questioning.