3 arrested for swindling Tk20 lakh from job seeker with false Europe promises

The Rapid Action Battalion has arrested three alleged fraudsters accused of swindling Tk20 lakh from a job seeker with the false promise of work in Italy, Germany and other European countries.

They were arrested during raids in Mirpur yesterday following a case filed at Shah Ali Police Station, RAB-4 Company Commander KN Ray Niyoti said today (6 June).

The arrested are Md Ejajul Haque Ratan, 63, Mosammat Nargis Begum, 40, and Md Badal, 55.

The RAB officer, citing the case statement, said the victim, Gazipur resident Imran Hossain, works in quality control at a private company.

Nargis and Badal, who became neighbours and friends with Imran years ago, reportedly enticed him with high-paying jobs in Europe.

When Imran showed interest, they claimed they could send him to Italy through a known agent and introduced him to Ratan. Ratan reportedly offered to send him to Italy in exchange for Tk22 lakh.

According to RAB, Imran paid Tk70,000 in cash at Ratan's Mirpur office on 15 November 2023 and later handed over another Tk5.2 lakh.

Ratan then provided some documents but delayed the process with various excuses. The accused later told Imran that Italy had stopped recruiting workers and offered to send him to Germany instead.

After another Tk3 lakh, they allegedly claimed issues with his documents prevented the move.

The group later offered to send Imran to Canada and allegedly collected another Tk11 lakh for fingerprinting, visa processing, medical tests and air tickets.

In January this year, Imran visited Ratan's office and discovered it had been closed for several months. RAB said several others may have fallen victim to the same scheme.

The arrested were turned over to the police station concerned for legal action.