20 foreigners linked with BB heist: CID
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has claimed to have identified 20 foreigners from Sri Lanka, the Philippines, China and Japan in connection with the theft of USD 101 million from the Bangladesh Bank (BB). Additional deputy inspector general (DIG) of CID, Shah Alam, yesterday disclosed this to a group of reporters at the CID headquarters in the capital. The disclosure was made after the recent visit of a CID team to Sri Lanka and the Philippines to investigate the heist. We dont want to disclose the names and details of the foreigners. Well seek help from Interpol to arrest them, the CID boss said. He told the reporters that the CID team may revisit the two counitries to obtain more information. When asked whether any BB official or any Bangladeshi person was involved in the heist, Shah Alam conceded that there had been security lapses on the part of various individuals. But were investigating whether such lapses were due to professional incompetence or criminal intent, he added. He confirmed that the theft was committed through cyber-hacking. On February 4, cyber hackers stole USD 101 million from the BBs account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Of the stolen money, USD 81 million were wire-transferred to bank accounts in the Philippines and USD 20 million to Sri Lanka.
