2 arrested for forging Covid certificates

Police have arrested two members of a gang involved in selling fake Covid-19 negative certificates in Dhaka.

They were arrested in a raid conducted by a team of Kotwali police from Al Medical Pharma in Bangshal on Sunday evening, said Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) of police Md Saifur Rahman Azad, reports Bangla Tribune.

The arrestees are Md Monir Hossain, 37, and Md Rafikul Islam alias Rubel, 24.

During the raid, police also seized a monitor, a printer, a CPU, a keyboard and two fake Covid test reports from their possessions.

Patients are required to provide Covid negative certificate to undergo surgery at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. The accused used to arrange fake Covid-19 negative certificates in exchange for money, police say.

Recently, the accused provided a fake Covid negative certificate for Tk2,000 to a cancer patient, who needed to undergo a surgery. But the fraudulent act was detected by the authorities at the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Department of DMCH.

Police arrested the culprits based on the victim’s information. A case has been filed in this regard with Bangshal police station.

Bangladesh has been seeing various syndicates providing fake Covid-19 certificates since the start of the pandemic.

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) sealed off the Uttara and Mirpur branches of Regent Hospital on charges of issuing fake Covid-19 certificates, after the law enforcers detained eight people from the hospital for forgery on July 6 last year.

In June last year, police detained five people including Ariful Chowdhury, CEO of private healthcare organization JKG Health Care, for a Covid-19 testing scam.

The group used to collect samples from people, who wished to be tested for Covid-19 and then sent them a false report for a fee. Later, the DGHS revoked its license for testing.

The law enforcers also detained four members of a fraud ring from Mugda, and seized several fake Covid-19 certificates and equipment used for forging the certificates.