Staff Correspondent :
A man named Md. Shafiqul Rahman (45) was detained for
impersonating a journalist and acting as a broker at the Narayanganj
Regional Passport Office. A mobile court later fined him 200 taka and
sentenced him to 15 days’ simple imprisonment. The sentence was
handed down on Thursday (28 August) at around noon by the district’s
Executive Magistrate, Md. Tarikul Islam.
Shamim Ahmad, Deputy Director of the Narayanganj Regional Passport
Office, said, “There is no place for any broker rings or fraud at the
passport office. Still, some dishonest people come in different guises and
try to mislead the public. We do not let anyone get away with that. In
today’s case the person tried to commit fraud by posing as a journalist.
Our staff caught him immediately and handed him over to law
enforcement.”
He added, “The district administration has declared the passport office
broker-free. We are strictly enforcing that directive, so extra surveillance
is maintained at the office every day. Brokers’ activities will not be
tolerated.”
Deputy Director Shamim Ahmad warned the public, “There is no need
to take anyone’s help to get a passport. All procedures are now online
and can be completed easily by applying directly at the office. Anyone
who goes to a broker puts themselves at risk. So I urge the public — do
not fall into the hands of brokers; get services directly from the office.”
Magistrate Md. Tarikul Islam said, “The accused was attempting to get
passports made for four ordinary citizens by using a fake journalist
identity. He added some of his own documents to their papers and took
money for this. But he has no relation to those four people. A visiting
card recovered from him bears the name ‘Amader Jagoron’ and lists him
as an advertising representative.”
Impersonating a journalist to act as a broker at N’ganj 15 days; imprisonment
