In 3 months, a Hundi was used to launder Tk 4bn from Dubai. Now, police have nabbed 5 of its workers

The five used the ‘Jet Robotic’ app to launder the money from Dubai, law enforcers say

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested five people on allegations of laundering billions of taka from expatriate Bangladeshis working in Dubai through Hundi instead of sending them in through legal banking channels.

Among the arrestees is the owner of a mobile financial services company and two of his employees.

An individual named Shahidul Islam aka Mamun bought 150 MFS agent SIMs from the distributor and used them to control the transactions using the ‘Jet Robotic’ app, law enforcers said.

Whenever an expatriate worker from Dubai wanted to send money home, Mamun would collect foreign currency from them and then use the ‘Jet Robotic’ app’s agent accounts to send money to the expatriate’s desired number.

Though he conducted transactions of over Tk 4 billion in the past three months, none of that foreign currency came to Bangladesh, CID officials said.

The detainees were identified as 62-year-old Nasim Ahmed, the owner of Tasmia Associates in Chattogram, his workers Rabbi Sumon, 32, and Kamruzzaman, 33, and two other accomplices of Mamun – Zahir Uddin, 37, and Khairul Islam Pias, 34.

Zahir and Pias would send money to different accounts according to Mamun’s instructions.

Police have seized Tk 2.85 million in cash, six mobile phones, 18 SIM cards, and various other pieces of evidence from them.

The CID says Mamun has been living in Dubai since 2020.