Daily online gambling transactions worth Tk5 crore, 6 held with 6,600 SIMs

Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has arrested six members of an organized online gambling gang in separate raids in Gazipur and Comilla. During this, 6,600 SIM cards linked to Mobile Financial Services (MFS) accounts were seized.

Police said that the gang used to transact about Tk5 crore daily and converted the money into cryptocurrency and smuggled it abroad.

DMP Additional Commissioner (DB) Shafiqul Islam gave this information at a news briefing organized at the DMP Media Center on Minto Road in the capital on Wednesday. He said that the suspects were arrested in separate raids at a resort in Tongi and a hotel in Comilla.

The six arrested are Ariful Islam Rifat, 23, Arman Hossain Jihad, 23, Masud Hossain, 22, Abdul Rabbi, 23, Kaushik Ahmed Shuvo, 23, and Mashiur Rahman Tarek, 20.

DB officials said that in addition to 6,600 SIM cards linked to MFS accounts, 67 more SIM cards, more than 70 mobile phones, a laptop and a microbus were seized in the operation.

Shafiqul Islam said that DB officials identified several online gambling websites and mobile apps through cyber surveillance. Investigation showed that financial transactions were going on through MFS agent accounts on these platforms, and DB traced the ring based on that information.

Based on intelligence information, a DB team first raided a resort in Tongi and arrested three people. Later, based on the information provided by them, the remaining three were arrested in a raid at a hotel in Comilla. The DB official said the gang kept thousands of MFS accounts in large registers and operated in an orderly manner.

Shafiqul Islam said the payment companies behind several online gambling websites and apps targeting Bangladesh were controlled by Chinese nationals. For local transactions, the operators collected MFS and bank accounts from Bangladeshis, then converted the money into cryptocurrency and laundered it. Forensic examination of the seized devices showed that the gang used to transact about Tk5 crore daily.

Police have identified Ariful Islam Rifat as the main mastermind of the gang. According to DB information, there are already four cases against him. Shafiqul Islam said Ariful used to change his location frequently to avoid the attention of law enforcement agencies. At the time of his arrest, he was renting three rooms in a resort.

In response to a question from journalists, the DB chief said that initial investigation revealed that the main mastermind of the gang is a Chinese national named 'Natan'. He said efforts are underway to arrest him.