Friday, March 23rd, 2007A Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has been formed with technical assistance from the US to combat financial crimes and retrieve assets and money kept overseas by graft suspects. Established within the framework of the amended Money Laundering Prevention Ordinance, 2007, the unit will operate as part of the Bangladesh Bank's (BB) Anti-Money Laundering Department (AMLD).The United States government has already provided the department with software essential to analyse and detect financial crimes.Besides, it will send a consultant next month to train officials of the FIU that will consist of personnel from AMLD, the Attorney General's Office and the ...
(read more) Sunday, March 4th, 2007Unknown assailants shot dead two members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) yesterday at Amin Bazar on the outskirts of the capital in the first of such casualties from direct attacks on the elite force since its formation.The slain Rab men were identified as Deputy Assistant Director Humayun Kabir and Constable Phool Mia. Both of them were members of the intelligence wing of Rab-11 unit.The bodies of Humayun and Phool, who had been in Rab on deputation from the Bangladesh Navy and police respectively, were found lying in a hut at a brick field around 3:30pm at Salehpur, 2 kilometres off ...
(read more) Wednesday, February 28th, 2007Rescuers recovered another body from the 11-storey BSEC Bhaban in Karwan Bazar yesterday, raising the death count to four while the investigators were yet to find out the cause of Monday's devastating blaze.Anwar Hossain, 25, a private security agency employee who was working for ntv, might have died from suffocation, failing to find an exit, some rescue workers told The Daily Star.Security personnel sealed off the site to keep off the curious onlookers.Meantime, Director General of Fire Service and Civil Defence Rafiqul Islam yesterday confirmed that the fire had started on the first floor but failed to pinpoint the cause. ...
(read more) Wednesday, February 14th, 2007The government yesterday made the director general (DG) of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) OSD (officer on special duty) and in a major reshuffle transferred nine deputy inspectors general (DIGs) and 65 superintendents of police (SPs).DIG of Police (Dhaka range) Baharul Alam has replaced SM Mizanur Rahman as the Rab DG.Before his posting to the elite crime busters unit, Mizan had served two days as the chief of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Before that, he was the commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) till October 31.Inspector General of Police (IGP) Nur Mohammad said the changes would bring dynamism ...
(read more) Saturday, January 27th, 2007The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) yesterday took over the criminal case filed against Orion Group chief Obaidul Karim, and 23 former and incumbent officials of the Oriental Bank for misappropriating Tk 596.44 crore.Assistant Superintendent of Police (CID) Momin Hossain collected the case docket from Sub-Inspector (SI) of Tejgaon Police Station Monirul Islam last evening. The case was filed on Thursday.Meanwhile, the police raided the houses of the accused in the early hours yesterday, but found none."Thirteen special teams comprising forces drawn from 13 police stations raided the houses of all the 24 accused," SI Monirul told The Daily Star ...
(read more) Saturday, January 20th, 2007The probe into the smuggling of 75.5kg heroin to the UK has come to a halt as the investigators have not yet been able to collect relevant evidence from that country.The investigators have been apparently idle for more than six months, waiting for the British government's permission for visiting that country to collect the pieces of evidence for the two cases filed with the Motijheel and Sutrapur police stations.The foreign ministry wrote a letter to the British High Commission in Dhaka last July, requesting it to take steps for the Bangladeshi investigators' trip to the UK to carry out further ...
(read more) Thursday, December 7th, 2006In a major gold heist yesterday burglars made off with stolen ornaments and cash worth about Tk 12.80 crore, breaking into four jewellery shops in Mascot Plaza at Uttara in the capital. The total amount of gold stolen is 7,821tola, according to the robbed jewellers. The jewellers' association said this is the biggest ever gold heist in the history of the country.Two guards of a private security company, Security Management Services (SMS), in league with the burglars drugged two of their on-duty colleagues before breaking into the 16-storey shopping complex off Dhaka-Mymensingh highway, according to police and the owners of ...
(read more) Thursday, September 21st, 2006The investigation officer (IO) of the Ramna Batamul carnage case yesterday told a Dhaka court that an activist of banned Harkatul Jihad (Huji) gave important information about the bomb blasts.Mahmud Azhar alias Mamun of Gangni in Meherpur district, an accomplice of Mufti Abdul Hannan, operations commander of Harkatul Jihad's Bangladesh chapter, was shown arrested in the Ramna Batamul carnage case and remanded on September 14 for seven days.Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Inspector Abu Hena Mohammad Yusuf, also IO of the case, said he interrogated Mamun intensively the seven-day remand where he gave important information about the bomb explosion.Mamun is also ...
(read more) Wednesday, September 20th, 2006To revive the government's bid to check financial crimes and money laundering, a secret meeting took place between the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and Bangladesh side recently.A DOJ delegation met with high officials of the ministries of finance and home, National Board of Revenue, Bangladesh Bank (BB), Attorney General's Office and Criminal Intelligence Department (CID) at Cox's Bazar.Bangladeshi officials appraised the DOJ officials of the status of the 45 money laundering cases, and discussed the investigation process and how punitive measures could be taken against those who would be found guilty of financial crimes.The US side at the ...
(read more) Saturday, August 26th, 2006The government has yet to bring any specific charges against the 27 militants arrested during a training session at a Qawami madrasa-cum-militant den in Mymensingh on August 2.Legal experts fear the militants may soon get bail from court, as the police did not even file a General Diary (GD) against them.So far they have only taken 11 arrestees on remand for quizzing under Section 54.Earlier on different occasions a good number of militants including the top brass had been released on bail as they were produced before the courts under the same section.The Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) captured the 27 ...
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