1,000 illegal money exchangers transact Tk750cr daily: CID

Illegal money exchangers across the country have been transacting Tk750 crore daily, said the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Bangladesh Police.

According to the CID, over 1,000 illegal money exchanges are operating across the country, each transacting around Tk75 lakh on an average per day.

The CID said the illegal money exchangers are also involved in manipulating the dollar market.

Some registered money exchangers are also involved in illegal forex trade and hundi trade, said Additional Inspector General of Police and CID Chief Mohammad Ali Mia.

Around Tk22,500 crore is transacted illegally per month, most of which is being laundered to foreign countries through illegal channels like hundi, said the CID chief in a press briefing following the arrest of 14 illegal money exchangers in drives conducted in Dhaka on Tuesday.

Briefing the reporters at the CID headquarters on Wednesday, CID Chief Mohammad Ali Mia said the Bangladesh Bank intelligence report provided the list of over 1,000 illegal money exchanges and CID has been conducting raids based on the report and their intelligence work.

During the raids conducted on Tuesday, legal actions were taken against JMCH Pvt Ltd in Gulshan, Alam and Brothers in Mohammadpur, Taimur Money Exchange in Ashkona, and two floating money exchangers.

The CID arrested Abu Talha alias Taharat Islam Toha, Asadul Sheikh, Hasan Molla, Abdul Quddus, Hasnat A Chowdhury, Shamsul Huda Chowdhury Ripon, Suman Mia, Tapan Kumar Das, Abdul Quddus, Kamruzzaman Russell, Moniruzzaman, Newaz Biswas, Abul Hasnat and Shahjahan Sarkar during the drives.

Of them, Hasnat A Chowdhury is a joint secretary of Awami League unit in Naragati upazila in Narail. His brother Shamsul Huda Chowdhury Ripon was also arrested during the drives.

The CID chief said the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have recently caused instability in the foreign exchange market.

Exploiting the opportunity, some unscrupulous forex traders in the country have been creating an artificial crisis of foreign currency by hoarding US dollars to make more profit and raised its price from Tk85 to Tk123, said Mohammad Ali.

Along with the illegal forex traders, some legal money exchangers' also played a questionable role in manipulating the market, he added.

CID Special Police Superintendent for Financial Crime Humayun Kabir said the formal banking systems have been suffering as the illegal money exchangers affected the country's dollar reserves.

Currently, there are 235 licensed legal money exchangers in Bangladesh.

CID Chief Mohammad Ali said they have been working for the last few months to eliminate illegal money exchangers and hundi traders, and Tuesday's raids were the first coordinated action.

A special team of CID conducted drives simultaneously at five locations in Dhaka city – Gulshan-1, Ring Road, Mohammadpur, Ashkona, AB Market and China Market in Uttara – on Tuesday and arrested 14 people with huge amounts of local and foreign currencies.

During the drive, over Tk1.99 crore including foreign currencies of 19 countries worth around Tk1.11 crore were seized.

The arrestees traded foreign currencies at their offices and ran floating operations in different areas of the capital without the Bangladesh Bank's permission.

Besides, there are many floating, illegal businesses in various areas including Motijheel, Gulshan, Uttara and near the Dhaka airport, said the CID chief.

Five cases were filed against the accused with Uttara West, Gulshan, Airport and Adabar police stations in this regard.