‘ATM fraud’ Mazurek attempts to attack reporter on court premises

 Court Correspondent  :  The foreign national arrested over ATM fraud has attempted to attack a reporter on the premises of the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court.Piotr Szcdepan Mazurek tried to pounce on Dhaka Tribune Court Correspondent Sanaul Haque Tipu as police were escorting Mazurek out of the courtroom on Monday after hearings on a prayer for a fresh remand for him and three others arrested in a case over the fraud.

Mazurek abused the reporter verbally, attempted to slap him and tried to destroy his mobile-phone set. Lawyer Shariful Islam Uzzal, who witnessed the incident, blamed it on police negligence, as the law enforcers had kept one of his arms free.

“He could not have done this with both his arms handcuffed,” the lawyer told bdnews24.com. AHM Kamruzzaman of the Crimes, Information and Prosecution division assured that action would be taken against the police personnel responsible for the incident.

Four remanded for 5 more days

Metropolitan Magistrate Abdullah Al Masud granted police five more days to interrogate the four who were earlier grilled for six days in the case filed under the ICT Act.The three detained City Bank officials are Moksed Ali Maksud, Rezaul Karim Shahin and Refat Ahmed Rony.The court rejected the bail prayer filed by Mazurek.

Fraudsters had installed devices and video cameras at six booths of the UCB, Eastern Bank Limited (EBL) and City Bank to steal client information.Altogether 1,200 transactions took place after the devices were installed. As many as 40 bank cards were cloned to withdraw Tk 2 million, according to media reports citing police sources.

EBL had identified 24 defrauded clients and reimbursed them, while City Bank filed a complaint with police over the ATM scams.