Mira-Bhayandar: Four illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, including two women, landed into the custody of the crime branch unit (zone III) attached to the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police for duping a 64-year-old project management consultant from Dahisar of ₹4 lakh after promising to help him in getting UAE dirhams and US dollars at cheaper than market rates in exchange for Indian currency. In his initial statement to the police, the complainant said that he was known to one of the suspects when they worked together for a Vasai-based construction company in 2017.
He claimed that he was trying to help the suspect out by providing currency notes of ₹500 denomination in exchange of ₹100 notes as the latter did not have a bank account and wanted to go to his native place with the cash. While conducting parallel investigations, the crime branch unit led by police inspector Pramod Badhaakh, learned that crime was the handiwork of the notorious “Bangladeshi Dollar” gang.
Police apprehend all Bangladeshi accused
The police activated their informer network and apprehended the quartet identified as -Akhtar Razzak Choudhary (55), Sagar Rahim Haldar (45), Tehrun Gulam Rasool Shaikh and Fatima Begum Musharraf Shaikh (both women aged 52 and 27 years) from Naigaon railway station. The gang had lured the complainant by offering the foreign currency at cheap prices. After striking the deal, the complainant was asked to come with the cash near a temple in Virar. The quartet hurriedly took the bag from him and handed over some bundles wrapped in a cloth and left before the complainant could even open it. He learnt that he had been duped when he found paper inside the cloth-wrapped bundle.
Recently Conned Driver in Santacruz.
“They are members of the notorious Bangladeshi Dollar gang who were found to be illegally staying in our country and conning gullible people with the lure of cheap foreign currency. They had recently targeted a 47-year-old driver in Santacruz by duping him of ₹1 lakh using the same modus operandi. With their arrest more such cases are likely to be solved” said Badhaakh.
IMO App Used to Contact Kin in Bangladesh
Notably the gang used the IMO (In My Opinion) app to make internet voice and video calls to their families in Bangladesh, making it difficult for the police to track or monitor their activities. Meanwhile the police recovered mobile phones and cash amounting ₹1.41 lakh including foreign currency from the possession of the accused who have been remanded to police custody till Friday.
