10 arrested in Chattogram for providing fake NIDs to Rohingyas

Detective Branch (DB) of police in Chattogram arrested 10 people including five data entry operators of the Election Commission Office in the port city in connection with creating fake national identity cards (NID) for Rohingyas and including them in the voter list.

According to police, the gang active in Chattogram and Cox's Bazar was involved in providing fake NID cards to Rohingyas. They were selling each fake NID card for Tk1.30 lakh.

Tipped off, police conducted a raid on Halishahar Housing High School in Chattogram city and arrested them on Tuesday night, Mohammad Ali Hossain, deputy commissioner of police (port and western zone), told The Business Standard.

The arrested data entry operators of the Election Commission Office in Chattogram are – Noor Nabi Rahat (25), Md Mizanur Rahman (23), Farhadul Islam (28), Emon Das (20), Md Kamal (42). The others arrested are Md Kamal Hossain (45), Parveen Akhtar (25), Md Nurul Abshar (28), Shamsur Rahman (60), Md Yasin Arafat (22).

Among them, Md Kamal Hossain and Parveen Akhtar are citizens of Myanmar. Shamsur Rahman was the headmaster of Pokkhali Government Primary School in Cox's Bazar. He was sacked for his involvement in making NID cards for Rohingyas. In 2021, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed a case against him with Cox's Bazar Sadar Police Station.

"On Tuesday morning, the process of updating the voter list and collecting information for making national identity cards was going on at the school. However, police were informed that two Rohingyas – Kamal and Parveen – had come there from Cox's Bazar. They were arrested based on that information," Mohammad Ali Hossain said.

"They said during preliminary interrogation that Shamsur Rahman and Nurul Absar brought them to Halishahar to include their names in the voter list. Based on their information, police later arrested these two persons, five data entry operators and an auto-rickshaw driver who brought Kamal and Parveen to Halishahar," he added.

According to police, Shamsur and Absar have connections with some officials of the EC office in the city who are employed through outsourcing. Photos of birth certificates of about 500 Rohingyas were found on Absar's mobile phone.

"We have got information of their connection with an official of Dhaka North City Corporation and an official of the Election Commission in Dhaka. We also got the names of some employees of the EC office, but we are not sure if they are involved," he said.

DB officials suspect Rohingyas are being made citizens of Bangladesh in this process in Chattogram and other parts of the country through data entry operators.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (port) of the DB Police in Chattogram, Shamim Kabir, said two separate cases have been filed against the arrested under the NID Registration Act and Foreigners Act with the city's Halishahar Police Station.

"The data entry operators are not the only officials involved in this crime. We have also got the names of some people from the central office of the Election Commission, who input the data into the server. We have recovered a registration form of the Election Commission from the arrested Rohingyas. Generally, this form is provided by an election officer," he said.

"We have information that a person named Saddam who works in the Election Commission Office in Hathazari upazila gave this form to Absar," he added.

Earlier in 2019, the activities of a gang providing fake NIDs to Rohigyas came to the fore after the arrest of a Rohingya woman named Lucky Akhtar who tried to obtain a passport using fake documents in Chattogram. After that, the National Identity Registration Wing blocked the distribution of around 50 NIDs on suspicion of fake documents.

The Counter Terrorism Unit later arrested 10 persons including Zainal Abedin, office assistant of the Election Commission Office in the Double Mooring area of the port city, and NID Wing employees Shahnoor Mia, Mostofa Faruk, and Md Shahin for involvement in the crime.