Arrestees include 4 ex-air force men
Rapid Action Battalion arrested four retired Bangladesh Air Force men and a Border Guard Bangladesh sepoy in connection with cheating job seekers through promises of jobs in BGB.
Rab also seized 65 fake appointment letters from the arrestees.
Mohammad Shafiqur Rahman, 41, and Mohammad Akter Hossain, 55, were sergeants of the air force while Mohammad Abdul Kuddus, 46, and Mohammad Shah Alam, 42, served as warrant officers. Mohammad Abdul Karim, 27, is a sepoy of BGB.
Rab also arrested a broker of the gang–Hosna Ara, 36, an employee of Kushtia General Hospital. A Rab-1 team arrested them in separate drives in and outside the capital Friday evening.
Lt Col Mohammad Rashidul Alam, commanding officer of Rab-1, said the arrestees used to collect money from youths of different districts through their broker. They even made fake appointment letters for the job seekers and arranged sham medical check-ups inside the BGB headquarters with the help of some corrupt BGB men.
The Rab official said the gang cheated 66 job seekers of different districts of about Tk 1.12 crore. Among the arrestees, Shafiq and Kuddus called themselves army majors while Akter and Karim posed as medical officers of BGB.
The gang had over 100 brokers like Hosne Ara in different districts, he added.
He said they had arrested Shafiq in 2009 for cheating those seeking jobs in the army. After being released on bail, he got involved in the gang again. The gang had been doing this for years, he said.
The Rab official said that they would investigate whether the retired air force men were also involved in fraudulent activities while in service.
A group of the defrauded youths had filed a case accusing the gang members with New Market Police Station on June 15.
-With The Daily Star input
