Dhaka: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police has apprehended seven alleged members of a human trafficking syndicate accused of fraudulently facilitating a woman’s travel to Italy using the passport and visa of another applicant.

According to United News of Bangladesh, the suspects have been identified as Belayet Hossain, Nazmul Hasan, Mehedi Hasan, Solaiman Sumon, Fazle Rabbi, Touhidur Rahman, and Kawsar Ahmed, hailing from different districts in Bangladesh. Acting on intelligence, the CID’s Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) unit conducted a raid on a travel agency in Gulshan-1, Dhaka, leading to their arrest. Additional Special Superintendent of Police Abu Taleb stated that the CID team recovered a significant amount of evidence from the office, including three CPUs, an HP laptop, 56 passports, 153 seals, an iron embossing seal, and Tk 2.5 lakh in cash.

The arrests followed a case filed at Gulshan Police Station. As per the case details, the victim’s husband resides in Italy, and she had been attempting to secure a visa to join him with her four children. After submitting her documents to the Italian Embassy in Dhaka, she encountered Nazmul Hasan, who promised to expedite her passport renewal and visa process.

Nazmul introduced the woman to Belayet Hossain at a Gulshan-1 travel agency, where they assured her of obtaining the Italian visa in exchange for a financial agreement. The victim transferred Tk 4.4 lakh in total, hoping to finalize the visa process. However, upon arriving at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, she learned that another woman had already traveled to Italy using her visa.

Realizing the fraud, the victim contacted the CID’s THB unit with the help of immigration authorities. Preliminary investigations revealed Belayet’s involvement in similar fraudulent activities since 2016, with connections to around 30 cases. He is currently on bail for a related fraud case under trial at the Airport Police Station.