CID files charges against 21 in money-laundering case
Representational image: Collected
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) submitted a chargesheet in court against 21 individuals over money laundering through online gambling.
DMP’s Prosecution Division Sub-Inspector Rokanuzzaman confirmed the matter.
On 1 September 2023, CID Sub-Inspector Al Hadi Robin filed a case under the Digital Security Act at Paltan Model Police Station. In the case, nine named individuals along with 20-30 unidentified persons were named as accused.
Following the investigation, CID’s Cyber Intelligence and Risk Management Sub-Inspector Parag Sadhu recently submitted the chargesheet in court and 15 November has been set as the date for submitting the investigation report.
The accused individuals are Md Motiur Rahman, Md Saikat Rahman Babu, Saiful Bin Ohidul, Md Rezaul Karim, Md Sadikul Islam, Nazmul Ahsan, Md Touhid Hossain, Md Zakir Hossain Majumdar, Md Ashikur Rahman, Md Jamil Hossain, Md Firoz Mondal, Md Kaiyum Islam alias Shadhin, Md Rasel Islam, Md Robiul Islam, Md Sohag Hossain, Moinuddin Sikder Choton, Md Apel Mahmud, Md Manik Miah, Md Sabbir Hossain, Emon Hossain, and Md Rasel Sheikh.
Among them, 16 accused individuals are on bail. However, as Ashikur, Firoz, Kaiyum, Rasel, and Robiul are fugitive, a recommendation has been made to issue arrest warrants against them.
According to the chargesheet, online gambling is organized on websites in exchange for money directly through websites or apps. Bets are placed using money or in advance regarding the win-loss outcomes of international and domestic cricket, football, or other sports events.
When an individual opens an account on the betting sites or apps using a mobile number or email, an e-wallet is created against that account. Initially, its balance remains zero. There are many methods to add balance to this wallet, including bKash, Nagad, Rocket, Upay, and various types of cryptocurrency.
Upon choosing any of these, an agent number from among the agent numbers is displayed, or an option for cryptocurrency transactions is shown. Sending money there results in the balance being added to the e-wallet within a short time. Anyone can then gamble using that money. A minimum of Tk 200 can be sent to these sites.
The chargesheet added that the agent numbers used on these websites change constantly. Agents of various financial services convert the deposited money into US dollars through a money exchange app named Binance, transferring it to the specific Binance accounts of the gambling website operators, while withdrawing the remainder and sending it to various bank accounts.
As a result, this money is laundered to various countries through Binance. The case’s accused Motiur was an expatriate living in Russia. From there, he ran the gambling website in collusion with another accused Saikat. Saikat oversaw the operations in Bangladesh. He was assisted in this work by Rezaul and Sadikul.
Gamblers could withdraw money won from these sites using mobile banking apps such as bKash and Nagad. On the other hand, earnings generated by the gambling sites were laundered to Russia after routing through various bank accounts belonging to the accused.
Saiful worked as the Bangladeshi admin for another online gambling ring. bKash Distributor Sales Officer (DSO) Nazmul Ahsan and Manager of bKash House (Alam Corporation) Md Jamil Hossain supplied the ring with bKash and Nagad accounts used to operate the gambling site.
The chargesheet noted that several gambling sites were operating under Ohidul’s direction. Rasel Islam, Rasel Sheikh, Sabbir, Sohag, and Moinuddin assisted him. Money obtained from their sites was converted into cash and handed over to Ohidul.
On the other hand, Firoz worked as the Bangladeshi admin for another site belonging to the crime ring. Manik Miah, Robiul Islam, Kaiyum Islam Shadhin, and Rasel Islam supplied this ring with MFS (bKash and Nagad) agent and personal SIM cards used for transactions.
