Mystery shrouds the involvement of 37 arrested foreigners, including seven females, in unauthorised VoIP business and the illegal stay of 13 of them in the country.
The 37 foreigners along with 6 Bangladeshis were arrested in possession of huge VoIP equipment during a Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) drive at Uttara in the capital on Sunday night. Sources in the RAB said the foreign nationals – 32 Taiwanese and 5 Chinese – were involved in illegal VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) trade, but involvement of so many people in VoIP business in a single house and illegal stay of many of them created mystery.
Of the arrested foreigners, 13 could not show their passports, raising questions how they had entered the country, RAB added.
It is believed that a powerful gang backs these foreigners who might be involved in various types of illegal activities apart from illegal VoIP trade.
Commanding Officer of RAB-1 Lieutenant Colonel Kismat Hayat said based on intelligence information that some foreigners under the guise of readymade garment trade are running illegal VoIP operations in Dhaka and others parts of the country, a team of RAB-1 raided the six-storey building at Sector-12 seized the equipment worth around Tk 1 crore.
Commander Habibur Rahman, Legal and Media Wing Director of RAB, said the team also seized US dollars from the foreigners and around 1.5 lakh taka from the security guard of the building.
But the foreign nationals remained tight-lipped till yesterday posing that they do not understand any other language except Mandarin, which many find unacceptable and mysterious.
“We are not sure whether they are pretending or not as it is quite tough to stay in the country for such a long period without being able to communicate at least in English,” a RAB official said.
The six Bangladeshis who were arrested along with the foreigners told RAB that these foreigners were involved in illegal VoIP activities for the last one and a half years on the 5 floors of the rented building under the cover of garment trade.
Officials of the BTRC, the regulatory body for country’s telecom sector, told The Independent that the equipment seized from the building showed that it was used by a big racketeer of illegal VoIP traders, and after primary investigation they became sure that the operation was
being run through land lines, which is a new phenomena as usually mobile phone SIM cards are used for illegal VoIP operations.
“We are more or less sure that big PSTN operators’ lines are used in this illegal VoIP operation here but right now we cannot exactly identify the company,” director (engineering) of BTRC Col Zakir Hossain told The Independent.
The RAB team found PSTN FXO -107, eight wifi routers, junipers, nine laptops and fixed fibre connections in the building.
Talking to The Independent, telecom minister Rashed Khan Menon said he had asked for a probe into the incident and to find out whether state-owned telephone company BTCL had any link with this operation.
BTCL officials, however, claimed that they had no knowledge about the existence of BTCL land-phone connections to this building and on that particular road of Uttara only 17 BTCL land-phone connections were provided, excluding that building.
“We are investigating whether they are using unauthorised BTCL connections,” BTCL director Rafiqul Matin said.
Involvement of land-phone and mobile phone operators in illegal VoIP businesses is an open secret and of late country’s anti-graft watchdog has sued 22 persons, including three former managing directors of the BTCL, over alleged embezzlement of Tk 5.75 billion through illegal VoIP business. The ACC claims the BTCL officials, together with Ericsson Bangladesh, embezzled the money by erasing incoming international call minutes from call detail record of ITX-5 and ITX-7.
The number of international calls per day has now declined by 15 million from nearly 45 million in early 2010, which allegedly caused losses of Tk 100 million in revenue per day.
The following is the list of the foreign nationals:
Chinese: Liao Jinro (female) with passport number -782856, Liang Cheng Ming with passport number-13532846, Jheng Lee with passport number -15967290, Jheng Tao with passport number -22546316 and Yang Bo with passport number 54577268.
Taiwanese; Chiao Wen Eng (female) with passport No. 30812785, Sengsi Yeon (female) with passport No. 307723507, Sengsi Ju with passport No. 214030452, Sangseo Ta with passport No. 212286402, Lee Chao Chang with passport No. 307489605, Ling Si Chuan with passport No. 302003193, Chang and Lian with passport No. 303663465, Ho Yu Ting with passport No. 215225489, Lee Yean Ting with passport No. 303337822, Ling Sing Sen with passport No. 200493670, Sing Sang Yean with passport No. 302857113, Pan Yea Siang with passport No. 308193918, Chang Yang Ju with passport No. 303312471, Ling Sing Bing with passport No. 308120042, Li Khuang Ju with passport No. 308009339, Li Sia Ho with passport No. 307806405, Wang Te Yang with passport No. 307833305, Leo Teore with passport No. 302607845, Chong Thing Hong, Tingway Hang, Thong Po Cheng, Chhai Hong Loye, Lui Chui Khayeng, Chu Chao Thing (female) Li Jai Jian, Cho E Eng (female) Li Fe Eng (female) Leyao Weng Yean, Leon Ji Sing, Yang Song Hang (female) Seye Fong Eyong and Seng Yang Liang.
Bangladeshi nationals: driver Md Jakir Hossain, driver Helal Hossain, driver Habibur Rahman, security guard Md Kamrul Hasan, Mozammel Hossain (passports keepers), driver Habibur Rahman
Commander Habibur Rahman, Legal and Media wing director of RAB, said, “We brought a female interpreter to quiz the arrested as they are very cunning and pretended that they don’t understand English.”
“We have already collected the name of a Bangladeshi who had done their passport-related procedures and managed their visas in exchange of a huge amount of money. We have already launched a drive to nab him,” Rahman said.
“Two separate cases will be filed against the foreigners — one for illegally staying in Bangladesh and another under telecommunication regulatory act with the Uttara West Police Station,” Rahman continued.
-With The Independent input
