Police in Rajshahi have arrested three people, including a civil surgeon office staffer, on charges of forging negative Covid-19 test reports for migrant workers.
Tareque Ahsan, 41, an office assistant of Rajshahi Civil Surgeon Office, Rafiqul Islam, 42, driver of Rajshahi Chest Disease Hospital, and his wife Shamsunnahar Shikha, 38 were arrested on Wednesday from different parts of the city.
Jewel Arefin, Deputy Commissioner of Detective Branch (DB) in Rajshahi Metropolitan Police, confirmed the matter at a press briefing on Thursday.
On a tip-off, a DB team conducted raids at their respective locations and arrested them. They were involved in making and supplying false certificates among the overseas job-seekers taking advantage of their emergency needs.
He said the unscrupulous circle collected Tk3,000-15,000 from each job-seeker in the name of giving negative corona reports.
Tareque Ahsan was the kingpin of the gang and Rafique was his accomplice and they used to collect lists of the persons who gave samples for corona test.
Then Shamsunnahar bargains for money after contacting the people over phone saying they tested positive of Covid-19. Their report will be negative if they give money and in this way they collect money through bKash account for around four months last.
The detective team also seized 100 fake certificates from their possessions.
Jewel Arefin said there are three to four more people in the gang and they remain absconding. "We are trying to bring them to book as soon as possible," he added.