The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has arrested 10 members of an illegal and fake revenue stamp counterfeiting gang, including its ringleader Sohail Kazi, 31, from different areas of Ashulia and Manikganj.
During the drive, RAB seized illegal fake revenue stamps worth more than Tk 22 crore, fake revenue stamp counterfeiting machine and a large cache of equipment, said RAB Legal and Media Wing Director Commander Khandakar Al Moin at a press briefing on Wednesday.
Providing more details, Moin said, “Based on intelligence, the RAB learned that a gang of fraudsters had been making illegal fake revenue stamps in Ashulia’s Bolibhadra area for years.
“They were selling counterfeit stamps to people and embezzling huge amounts of money. They were also depriving the government of a large amount of revenue.”
He continued, “So after boosting surveillance, several teams of RAB-4 conducted raids in different areas of Ashulia and Manikganj. They arrested 10 members of a gang, including the ringleader.
The other arrestees are – Sohail Rana, 35, Sabbir Hossain, 22, Sabina Yasmin, 30, Shahnaz Akhtar, 31, Kamrul Hasan, 26, Md Sumon, 22, Biltu, 19, and Sentu Mia, 25.
During preliminary interrogation, the arrested persons provided information about their involvement in making fake revenue stamps and court fees through fraud. The gang has been doing this kind of work in Ashulia for about two years.
According to the information provided by the arrestees, in the initial stage, the gang used to spend around Tk 30,000 to Tk 40,000 to produce illegal fake revenue stamps with one ream of paper.
Sohail then sold the stamps to Zahid for Tk 1 lakh. Zahid then sold the counterfeit stamps in different parts of the country, including in the capital, for approximately Tk 2.5 lakh.
According to the RAB officer, the gang used the above mentioned process to make counterfeit stamps with 8 to 10 reams of paper every month, and sold those in different parts of the country, including in Dhaka.
