The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police nabbed two members of an international ATM card cloning syndicate from the capital.
The arrestees were identified as Turkish national Hakan Zanburkan, 55, and his Bangladeshi associate Md Mafiul Islam. They escaped from Indian police custody.
CTTC chief Md Asaduzzaman at a press conference on Wednesday disclosed it.
The duo was arrested from Gulshan-1 area of Dhaka in a special operation on Tuesday.
CTTC boss Md Asaduzzaman said Hakan, allegedly one of the masterminds of the international ATM card cloning scam, visited various booths of Eastern Bank Limited (EBL) from January 2 to 4 and tried to withdraw money 84 times using multiple cloned cards from different countries. However, Eastern Bank's anti-scamming tech
nology alerted the bank authority through alarm systems and prevented hackers.
During primary interrogation, police found out that Hakan, along with another Turkish national and two Bangladeshis, were arrested in an ATM scam case in the Assam state of India in 2019.
The racket had embezzled nearly 10 lakh rupees there.
DIG Md Asaduzzaman said, after serving sentence for about 20 months, he (Hakan) managed to escape while undergoing treatment in police custody at Govind Ballabh Pant Hospital in Agartala.
Preliminary interrogation revealed that several Bangladeshis and citizens of different countries, including Turkey, Bulgaria, Mexico and India, are involved in the racket.
A case was filed against the arrestees under the Digital Security Act with the Paltan police station.