Fake PM adviser held, fraud attempts uncovered: DB

Detective Brance of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has detained a man on charges of fraud for allegedly issuing a fake government gazette while posing as an adviser to the prime minister.

The detainee, identified as Arif Mohiuddin, hails from Paharika village under Chakaria upazila of Cox's Bazar district.

A team from the DB, with support from the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit and Cox's Bazar district police, detained him in Cox's Bazar on Saturday.

Confirming the matter at a briefing at the DMP Media Centre today, DB Chief Md Shafiqul Islam said investigators uncovered multiple complaints of fraudulent activities linked to the suspect.

Arif used different identities – including Dr Arif Mohiuddin, Mohiuddin, and Mohiuddin Chowdhury – to carry out his schemes. During initial interrogation and analysis of his mobile phone, detectives found that he falsely posed himself as a special adviser to the Prime Minister's Office, he said.

He allegedly used the seal of a director at the Prime Minister's Office to prepare and circulate a fabricated biography of the prime minister. He also edited an authentic government gazette, inserting his name as an official adviser, complete with a forged signature of a senior secretary from the home ministry, and sent it to various government offices, the DB chief said.

Investigators further said Arif used the name and official insignia of an organisation called "Gum Kalyan Trust" to solicit funds from different individuals, falsely naming a senior government official as its president while declaring himself member secretary, Shafiqul said.

He also reportedly wrote to the Anti-Corruption Commission claiming to be a state minister and applied to the Bangladesh Bank seeking a loan of Tk 1,000 crore, he said.

Legal action was underway, as interrogation continued to uncover the full extent of his activities, the DB official added.