Biman ground officer held for sending passengers to Italy on fake visas

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police has arrested Biman Bangladesh Airlines ground officer Md. Akhlsur Rahman in connection with an attempt to send three people to Italy on fake Schengen visas. He was arrested from Jamalpur on Tuesday morning. Later, details were given at a press conference organized at the CID headquarters in Malibagh in the capital in the afternoon.

At the press conference, CID Special Police Superintendent Badrul Alam Molla said that on May 26, three people completed immigration using boarding passes for a Nepal-bound flight. Later, they went out through the staff gate and got into a car and collected boarding passes, tickets and fake Schengen visas for Italy. Then, they returned to the immigration area and attached the fake visas to their passports in the washroom. He said that Akhlsur Rahman, the ground officer on duty at the INS gate, helped them board the flight to Italy.

After arriving at Rome Airport in Italy, Mostafizur Rahman Anik and Akshay Chandra Das were caught with fake visas and deported. However, a third person, whose identity was not disclosed, managed to enter Italy.

During interrogation, the two arrested persons said that they tried to go to Italy through a ring with a contract of 3 million taka and paid 2 million taka in advance. The CID said that since their immigration was completed with boarding passes for Nepal, they had the opportunity to exit only through the INS gate. With the help of the ground officer at that gate, they crossed the gate and boarded a flight to Italy.

A case was filed at the Airport Police Station on May 30 in this incident. Three people have been named as accused in the case. The CID said that several others may be involved in the investigation, and efforts are underway to identify and arrest them.