CID’s Organized Crime Department Additional DIG Ekramul Habib said that Sadeeq Agro had been selling domestic cows and goats at inflated prices by falsely advertising them as foreign breeds.
Sadeeq Agro Chairman Imran Hossain was sent to jail on Tuesday, just hours after his arrest from the capital’s Malibagh area, in connection with a case of laundering Tk133 crore.
Speaking at a press briefing at the CID headquarters in Malibagh, he said: "Imran fraudulently earned approximately Tk121,32,15,144 by misrepresenting domestic cows and goats as foreign and pedigree breeds, subsequently selling them at exorbitant prices in the sacrificial animal market."
The CID official further revealed that Imran led an organized criminal gang involved in smuggling cattle.
This gang illegally transported cows and buffaloes from Thailand and Myanmar into Bangladesh through the Teknaf and Ukhia borders of Cox's Bazar district.
Additionally, small-sized Bhutti cows were smuggled from Bhutan and Nepal into Bangladesh and sold, he added.
The CID official said: "In one instance of fraud, Imran misappropriated 15 Brahma cows by falsely declaring them slaughtered on paper for meat sales at a fair price. These cows had previously been seized by Customs House, and the government had directed that they be slaughtered under the custody of the Bangladesh Central Cattle Breeding and Dairy Farm in Savar, with the meat to be sold at a fair price."
Through such fraudulent activities, Imran and his accomplices amassed Tk11,36,91,200, which they transferred into laundered assets by opening Fixed Deposit Receipts (FDRs) under the name of his company, Jalalabad Metal Limited, he added.
Additionally, Imran had been conducting illegal business operations by illegally filling and occupying the Ramchandrapur government canal in the Beribadh area under Mohammadpur police station in the capital.
Investigations revealed that he made transactions amounting to approximately Tk121,32,15,144 through various bank accounts.
On Monday, a case was filed at Mohammadpur police station against Imran Hossain, Sadeeq Agro's Managing Director Touhidul Alam Zenith, and four to five unidentified individuals under Sections 4(2) and 4(4) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2012.
The CID investigation concluded that Imran had acquired over Tk133 crore through smuggling, fraud, and forgery in collaboration with an organized crime syndicate.
