ছবি: Photo: Collected
Mohammad Imran Hossain, owner of Sadeq Agro, has been accused of fraudulently selling local cattle as foreign and high-breed animals during Qurbani (Eid-ul-Adha) seasons, earning an illegal income of over 121 crore taka. The allegations were disclosed during a press conference held at the CID headquarters in Malibagh on Tuesday (4th March).
CID’s Additional Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Organized Crime, Ekramul Habib, revealed that Imran and his associates misled customers by falsely marketing local cows and goats as foreign breeds, selling them at inflated prices during Qurbani markets. This fraudulent activity reportedly generated illicit earnings of 121 crore, 32 lakh, 15 thousand, and 144 taka.
Imran Hossain, the prime accused in a 133 crore taka money laundering case, was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Monday (3rd March) from Malibagh. According to DIG Habib, Imran and his accomplice Tawhidul Alam Zenith, along with their company Sadeq Agro Limited, were involved in smuggling, fraud, and forgery. They illegally imported Brahma breed cattle without proper authorization and smuggled approximately 86 lakh taka abroad.
Habib further explained that Imran had allegedly manipulated documents to falsely claim that 15 Brahma cattle, which were under custody at the Central Cattle Breeding and Dairy Farm in Savar, had been slaughtered and sold as meat. Instead, the cattle were reportedly stolen and resold.
The CID investigation also uncovered that Imran and his associates laundered 133 crore, 55 lakh, 6 thousand, and 344 taka through illegal business operations. Additionally, they opened a Fixed Deposit Receipt (FDR) worth 11 crore, 36 lakh, 91 thousand, and 200 taka under the name of Jalalabad Metal Limited.
Imran was also accused of illegally occupying and filling up the Ramchandrapur government canal in Mohammadpur, Dhaka, to expand his business operations. The CID official added that the organized crime ring smuggled cattle and buffaloes from Thailand and Myanmar through the Teknaf and Ukhiya border areas of Cox’s Bazar, as well as small-sized cattle from Bhutan and Nepal, and sold them in Bangladesh.
In response to a question, DIG Habib confirmed that Tawhidul Alam Zenith, Imran’s business partner, remains at large, and efforts to arrest him are ongoing.
The CID’s findings highlight a large-scale operation involving fraud, smuggling, and money laundering, with Imran and his associates allegedly exploiting religious sentiments during Qurbani to amass significant illegal profits.
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