Three held on charge of fraud to get US visa

Police have recently arrested three people for alleged fraudulent activities to secure United States visas and trafficking people to the country.

The arrestees are Abul Kashem Sheikh, 55, Bakhtiar Hossain, 35, and Md Nazrul Islam, 45.

According to the police, they committed the forgery through a company named 'Kathak Academy'. 

The company has no registration and exists in name only but it claims the status of special consultative of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations.

The detective branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police apprehended them after the US Embassy in Bangladesh filed a case with Gulshan Police Station, Dhaka in March in this connection.

The detectives claimed they also seized five mobile handsets, a laptop, a PC, three seals of Kathak Academy used in cheating, 13 email accounts, a website, and a visiting card ID card of the academy chief executive officer from their possession.

Apart from this, they also seized 31 passports used in human trafficking to different countries, including US, Germany, Japan, Italy, United Arab Emirates and France, from the home of held Abul Kashem.

The cyber and special crime division of DB said Kathak Academyc would seek invitation letters for joining different UN conferences providing fake documents to the organization's headquarters.

After receiving invitation letters in different people's names, the company would apply for US visas by submitting fake papers.

After securing visa, the company would send people to US and in exchange, it took Tk 10-12 lakh from each person.

TT/SU