Criminal gangs in Bangladesh find new line in bogus health certificates

Several people have been arrested in Bangladesh for issuing bogus documentation to people who have not been tested for the coronavirus showing they are not infected. Such documents are required for migrant workers, who need to show that they are virus-free when they arrive at their overseas destination, and whose remittances back to their families are an important source of income for the country ($19 billion in 2019). Criminal gangs advertise on social media to find potential buyers; in one case, a hospital owner was accused of falsifying thousands of tests. In one case, a hospital owner accused of issuing thousands of fake negative test results was arrested after a nine-day hunt near the Indian border wearing a burqa. In another, a well-known doctor and her husband were arrested and accused of issuing thousands of fake certificates from their Dhaka laboratory.

Writer: Jack Goodman and Flora Carmichael; Sarah Marsh

Source: The Guardian; BBC