Detectives in Bagerhat have arrested three people for allegedly cloning fingerprints to register SIM cards of different mobile operators and selling them at high prices to people involved in financial crimes, police said.
The three were arrested during a raid in Kartikdia village of Bagerhat Sadar upazila late Wednesday night (30 September).
The arrestees are Mamun Ali Khan, 30, Jihad Biswas, 23, and Litu Biswas Babu, 22. All three are residents of Kartikdia, according to police.
Police seized a fingerprint scanner, a device with four USB ports, 21 Grameenphone SIM cards, 141 rubber kits bearing biometric fingerprint impressions, six fingerprint impressions on plastic sheets, marking tape used for SIM registration and three smartphones.
Bagerhat Superintendent of Police Jamirul Islam said the suspects used the seized equipment and the Smart BL and Cockpit apps on their smartphones to clone fingerprints and obtain SIM cards.
“They had been cloning customers’ fingerprints and obtaining SIM cards of different operators for a long time. They later sold the SIM cards at high prices to people involved in financial crimes,” he said.
Police are preparing to file a case against the three and produce them before the court, the SP said.
Earlier, district detective police arrested nine people in a separate case involving a syndicate that allegedly used biometric fraud to replace SIM cards and siphon off money.
Police suspect that other groups involved in similar activities may also be operating in Bagerhat.
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