A Chattogram court has ordered Mohammad Mohsin, who held the passports of 63 foreign nationals, to be shown arrested in an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) case while granting a one-day remand in a separate cocaine probe.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Md Mohidul Islam issued the directive on Tuesday morning following a police hearing.
Acting Deputy Police Commissioner (Prosecution) of Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) Mohammad Hasan Iqbal Chowdhury confirmed the court order to TIMES of Bangladesh.
Mohsin, who comes from Lakshmipur district, works as an official at an organisation in the city’s Karnafuli area.
According to police, he maintained links with the 63 foreign nationals and rented an eight-storey building for them. Authorities noted that efforts are ongoing to identify other individuals operating behind Mohsin.
The discovery of the foreign nationals came after a courier parcel containing 118 grams of cocaine, sent by Mohsin to an individual in Dhaka a few days ago, was returned. Tracking information regarding the drugs led police directly to the 63 foreigners.
Mohsin was initially sent to prison through court on the evening of 12 September in the cocaine case, after which police applied to show him arrested and seek his remand in the cyber security case.
Earlier on Tuesday morning, the court ordered 62 of the 63 foreign nationals, excluding one child, to be shown as accused in the case.
The magistrate granted a two-day remand for the 62 foreigners along with their Bangladeshi associate Mohsin, directing investigators to submit the investigation report within 20 working days.
The 63 foreigners were arrested on the night of 11 September during a joint operation by CMP’s Counter Terrorism Unit and Khulshi Police Station at an eight-storey building in Jalalabad Residential Area.
The group comprises 35 citizens from Laos, 21 from Pakistan, five from China, one from Nepal, and one from Vietnam. Officers seized 170 electronic devices, including laptops and mobile phones.
Following the raid, police filed a case under the Cyber Security Act at Khulshi Police Station, and the 63 foreigners were sent to jail via court on Friday.
Police revealed that the group had rented 14 flats in the building for one and a half months, setting up servers, computers, laptops, and other IT equipment to operate an online fraud network with the assistance of a local syndicate.
