63 foreigners held on suspicions of running online scam centre in Ctg

Police detained 63 foreigners from a residential building in Chattogram city on Thursday, suspecting they were operating for an online fraud scheme.

At least 170 communication devices were seized during the raid conducted at and eight-story building in Jalalabad Krishnachura Residential Area of the port city.

The detainees included 35 Lao nationals, 21 Pakistanis, five Chinese nationals, one Nepali and one Vietnamese national.

The raid started around 11pm, and could continue till Friday morning, said Khulshi Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Abdur Rahim.

Personnel from the police station and Counter-terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit also took part in the overnight raid.

Earlier on 3 September, police detained six foreigners, including five Chinese, from a building in Cox’s Bazar town, on allegations they were engaged in drug trade and other potential crimes.

In online scams, perpetrators use false or misleading information to blackmail targets and pocket a hefty amount of money from the service-seeker.