Many foreigners after entering into Bangladesh legally and illegally are getting involved in criminal activities.
Law enforcing agencies have arrested over 100 foreigners in the past one year for their alleged involvement with illegal activities like drug-dealing, counterfeiting currencies, illegal VoIP trade, militancy, and swindling.
On Jan 21, police arrested three foreign nationals from Dhaka’s Uttara with fake US-dollar making equipment. Two days before that, three Pakistanis were arrested from the city’s Segunbagicha with manuals to make bombs.
File Photo
Dhaka police’s Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam said: “More than 100 foreigners have been arrested in the last one year mainly for involving in three types of crimes (running illegal drug business, swindling and militancy).”
Many of these foreigners after coming to Bangladesh on tourist visas overstay and destroy their passports.
“As they have no passports, deporting the arrested foreigners is a problem. They seize this opportunity and carry on with their crimes,” Islam said.
Safe posh areas
The foreigners prefer posh areas in the city as their base.
Police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) have detained many foreigners who used to run drug business from rented houses at Uttara, and Gulshan.
While renting houses, they prefer those whose owners are not in the country.
On last Tuesday, police arrested three foreigners, two of them Africans and one South American, from a house in Uttara with equipment used in counterfeiting US dollars.
They are Perez Wai Perez Efren, 37, Sen Kerin Natty, 36, and Mico Sandio Natali Lorel, 21. Efren and Natty are from Cameron while Lorel hails from Guatemala.
On Dec 22 last year, 37 foreigners were held from a house in Uttara’s Sector 12 with illegal VoIP equipment. Two Bangladeshis, too, were arrested from there.
Of the foreigners, five of them were Chinese, and the rest Taiwanese. They include seven women.
Police say the foreigners usually run their illegal activities in the country with the help of locals.
Deputy Commissioner Islam said at times, foreigners stay in posh hotels posing as investors. They deceive people in the guise of sending abroad, promising to open businesses in Bangladesh and providing jobs.
Legal complications
The law enforcing agencies feel helpless as many of these arrested foreigners take advantage of legal complexities in Bangladesh.
On Jan 12, three Pakistanis were arrested from Dhaka’s Segunbagicha. A laptop and a manual to make bombs were found on ‘Mehmood’, 26, ‘Osman’, 23, and ‘Fakhrul’, 50.
Police had arrested Mehmood and Osman once before. That time, they had secured bail saying they would go back to Pakistan, but they continued their subversive activities staying in Bangladesh.
Source: Bd news24
