Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has arrested a fugitive man and his third wife for allegedly embezzling Tk300 crore in the name of different businesses, including real estate business.
The arrestees are Imam Hossain Nasim, 60, owner of the Nasim Real Estate, and Halima Akhter Salma, 32.
RAB arrested them from Mirpur’s Rupnagar area in Dhaka on Wednesday evening.
“Nasim was a fugitive and accused in 55 cases,” said RAB-4 Commanding Officer (CO) Md Mozammel in a press briefing at RAB media center in Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar area on Thursday.
Mozammel said that acting on a tip-off, a team conducted a raid in Rupnagar Residential area and arrested Nasim and his wife Salma.
Meanwhile , RAB also recovered one foreign pistol, one magazine, three-round of bullets, 1,400 yaba pills, two bottles of foreign liquor, four walkie-talkie sets, six passports, 37 bank cheques books, 32 SIM cards and Tk1.35 lakh.
During the raid, RAB also found a secret room under Nasim’s office. He used to hide himself in that room when creditors or law enforcement agencies looked from him, the RAB official added.
The rise of Nasim
RAB-4 CO Mozammel said that Nasim completed his degree in 1984. He worked as a contractor for a company from 1978 to 1986. Since 2002, Nasim had been introducing himself as the owner of the so-called real estate company through innovative fraudulent tactics.
By putting up sign boards and brandishing firearms, he used to occupy lands of others, including khas lands, in Kaundia area of Savar -- on the outskirts of Dhaka city.
He pocketed Tk5 lakh from each of nearly 5,000 people as booking money, promising them a residential township in that area. He also fraudulently took Tk12.5 lakh from each of 250 people for land registration. In total, he embezzled around Tk300 crore.
Nasim has been setting up various institutions since 2005 and embezzling money from people in different ways. So far, 16 companies have been found in his name, the RAB official added.
REHAB approved
Mozammel said that Nasim Real Estate Ltd is REHAB (Real Estate & Housing Association of Bangladesh) approved. They have also participated in the REHAB fair in Dubai to sell land to expatriates.
Moreover, Nasim showed land in Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar and Kuakata for sale.
“We are investigating the matter and opened a hotline. Anyone falling victim to Nasim’s fraudulence will be provided with legal support,” he added.
Narcotics and counterfeit money dealers
The CO of RAB-4 also said that in his personal life, Nasim got married three times and has three children. He got married for the first time in 1996, remarried in 2004 and then for the third time in 2013. Arrestee Salma is the third wife and RAB found the 1,400 yaba pills from her bag.
The two accused were collecting drugs like yaba and foreign liquor from the border areas of the country and selling them to drug dealers and retailers in different areas of Dhaka.
They were also involved in counterfeit notes business in different parts of the country including Dhaka, he added.
