The Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police has detained a man on charges of fraud by posing as an adviser to the Prime Minister and issuing a fake government gazette.

The detainee was identified as Arif Mohiuddin, a inhabitant of Paharika village under Chakaria upazila in Cox’s Bazar.

A DB team, with assistance from the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit and Cox’s Bazar district, detained him from Cox’s Bazar on Saturday.

DB chief and Additional Police Commissioner Md Shafiqul Islam disclosed the information at a media briefing at the DMP Media Centre on Sunday.

He said Arif Mohiuddin had been involved in various fraudulent activities using different identities, including “Dr. Arif Mohiuddin,” “Mohiuddin,” and “Mohiuddin Chowdhury.”

During primary interrogation and analysis of his mobile phone, police found that he introduced himself as a special adviser to the Prime Minister’s Office. He allegedly used the seal of PMO Director Shahabuddin Jamil and circulated a fabricated biography of the Prime Minister to different individuals.

He also edited an original government gazette and inserted his name as an adviser to the Prime Minister, forging the signature of Senior Secretary of the Home Ministry Nasimul Ghani, and sent it to various government offices.

The DB chief also said, the suspect also used the name and monogram of an organisation called “Gum Kalyan Trust” to solicit money from people, declaring a senior government officer as its president and himself as member secretary.

He further claimed himself as a state minister and wrote letters to the Anti-Corruption Commission and Bangladesh Bank, seeking a loan of Tk 1,000 crore.

Police said multiple instances of fraud were found in his mobile phone. He has been brought to Dhaka for further interrogation and will be brought under legal action after questioning.

Replying to a query, the DB chief said the suspect had previously been detained in a case. A general diary (GD) was also registered against him in Chakaria police station in 2024 over similar allegations. 

He has also been sentenced in a cyber case, and police are verifying the status of that sentence.