‘Couple’ held for defrauding youths on plea to take to London

Police arrested an accused couple for defrauding youth on false plea of taking them to London.

Sylhet, Dec 7 --A couple has been arrested from Jashore for allegedly embezzling around Tk 2 crore from several young people in Sylhet by promising to send them to London on work-permit visas.

The victims had earlier filed a case with the Sylhet Kotwali Model Police Station after the couple went into hiding and switched off their mobile phones.

SI Mukit Mia, the investigation officer, said the couple was arrested around 10:30 pm on Saturday from a house in Sector 7, Kotwali Police Station area of JessoreThe arrestees are Md Nazim Uddin Adil, 35m and his wife Farzana Sharmin Soma, 37, of Rayerbagh Mirjanagar C Block under Kadamtali Police Station in in Dhaka.

They were brought back to Sylhet on Sunday and produced before the court, Kotwali Model Police Station Officer-in-Charge Khandaker Mostafizur Rahman confirmed.

According to police and victims, the couple operated a travel agency named St International at Elegant Market in Sylhet's Zindabazar area. Lured by their campaign, many IELTS-qualified youths reportedly sold jewelry and land to pay Tk 15 lakh to Tk 22 lakh each for what they believed to be genuine work-permit visas for the UK

The couple allegedly showed the victims fabricated visa documents to collect money. When the youths later discovered the visas were fake and went to the office, they found it closed. The couple's phones were also switched off

Following the complaints, police tracked them down to Jashore and made the arrests.

A defrauded young woman demanded justice and money back.

Court sources confirmed that the couple has been sent to jail. - UNB