Members of the Border Guard Bangladesh on Thursday detained two people for allegedly impersonating senior military officers and defrauding cattle traders by promising to facilitate cross-border cattle smuggling.
The arrested are Mehedi Hasan, 55, a resident of Khagra village under Atpara police station in Netrakona district, and Nizam Uddin, 71, a resident of Kalikapur village under Begumganj police station in Noakhali.
At a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Lieutenant Colonel Hasibul Haque, commander of the Rajshahi-1 BGB battalion, said that acting on a tip-off, a BGB patrol team conducted an operation at Gulshan Hotel in the Binodpur Crossing area of Rajshahi city and detained the two accused.
He said that the duo arrived in Rajshahi from Dhaka on May 20 and introduced themselves to cattle traders as having contacts with the chief of army staff and the director general of the BGB.
鈥楾hey promised unhindered movement of cattle from India into Bangladesh through the border, claiming they had secured permission from top border authorities,鈥� he alleged.
The BGB official said that Nizam Uddin reportedly claimed to be a former teacher of the army chief鈥檚 spouse, while Mehedi Hasan introduced himself as a contractor affiliated with the Military Engineering Services.
鈥楾he accused told traders that Rajshahi Sector Commander of the BGB would be visiting them at the hotel in the evening to finalise approvals for cross-border cattle movement and only those traders whom Mehedi personally selected would be allowed to bring cattle from India,鈥� he added.
Hasibul Haque said that the detained had demanded Tk 10 lakh in advance from traders, promising to facilitate the illegal import of 10,000 head of cattle through unofficial channels, and demanded Tk 35,000 per cattle pair as part of the smuggling arrangement.
The BGB official also said that the detained two used the names of high-ranking military officials to gain trust and extort large sums from cattle traders under the guise of securing cross-border permission.
鈥楾heir promises were entirely fraudulent and aimed at extracting money using fabricated identities and military influence,鈥� he further added.
He said that the process of taking legal action against the detainees was under way.
