Police from Turag Police Station have arrested Masum Hasan, Deputy Director of the E-Passport Personalization Complex in Uttara, on charges of creating multiple passports for himself by altering his identity. The detained individual is the son of M.M. Hasan of Shankarpasha village in Kashiani, Gopalganj. He was taken into custody on Thursday, December 5, on allegations of forgery and fabricating multiple passports. Major General Nurul Anwar, the Director General of the Department of Passports and Immigration, confirmed that legal action would be initiated against Masum Hasan.
The arrest followed an investigative report published by an online media outlet, which unveiled the extent of Hasan’s misconduct. The investigation revealed that on February 7, 2012, Hasan obtained his first official passport, numbered OC4006440, using a No Objection Certificate (NOC). On August 28, 2016, he acquired a regular passport, numbered BL0712318, by misrepresenting his profession as “Others” instead of a government employee. He later obtained another official passport on October 30, 2018, numbered OC2262615, this time reinstating his profession as a government employee. While working at the Faridpur Regional Passport Office during this period, he personally processed his own passport applications, signed approvals, and concealed prior records.
Despite having a valid official passport, on February 4, 2019, Hasan secured another regular passport, numbered BY0753395, by falsely stating his occupation as a permanent officer of an autonomous organization. He manipulated the issue date of an earlier NOC from 2016, manually altering it to 2018. Further investigations revealed that he tampered with local and central passport servers, modifying data to conceal discrepancies and facilitate his fraud.
In his most recent violation, while serving at the Chandgaon Regional Passport Office, Hasan approved his own application for an e-passport on September 6, 2022, under the number A04597933, without obtaining the required prior approval for switching from an official to a regular passport. This blatant disregard for official protocols and fraudulent activities have brought serious charges of forgery and data manipulation against him.
The arrest exposes a major breach of trust within the Department of Passports and Immigration, highlighting loopholes in the system that enabled such violations. Legal proceedings are expected to follow promptly.
