On Wednesday, a Bangladeshi hospital owner accused of issuing thousands of false negative coronavirus test results to patients at his two clinics was arrested while trying to flee to India in a burqa, police said.
The arrest marked the end of a nine-day manhunt for Mohammad Shahed on charges of issuing false certificates to patients who claimed they were virus-free without even testing them.
Shahed, 42, was one of more than a dozen people detained by authorities in recent days in connection with the scam.
Experts warn that the false documents have worsened the already dire situation in the country of 168 million people by questioning the veracity of the certificates issued by the clinics.
“He was arrested from the edge of a border river while trying to flee to India. He was wearing a burqa,” Rapid Action Battalion spokesman Colonel Ashique Billah told the AFP news agency.
“Their hospitals conducted 10,500 coronavirus tests, of which 4,200 were genuine and the remainder, 6,300 test reports, were conducted without testing.”
Shahed is also accused of charging for certificates and COVID-19 treatments despite having agreed with the government that his hospitals in the capital Dhaka would provide free care.
A well-known doctor and her husband were also arrested by the police and accused of issuing thousands of false virus certificates in their Dhaka laboratory.
The alleged scams could seriously harm migrant workers seeking to go abroad and whose remittances are key to Bangladesh’s economy, said Shakirul Islam of the migrant rights group OKUP.
Italy suspended flights to Rome from Bangladesh last week to stop the avalanche of coronavirus cases. Several passengers who arrived from Dhaka had tested positive for COVID-19.
Fear possible infections in the immigrant community of Bangladesh, authorities in the Lazio region performed “general tests” for the coronavirus. Italy is home to more than 100,000 Bangladeshis, according to the ISTAT National Statistical Institute.
“Some of the Bangladeshis who tested positive in Italy reportedly carried negative COVID certificates from Bangladesh,” Islam said.
“The government must ensure the quality of the COVID-19 tests in local laboratories for the sake of its overseas job market.”
Approximately $ 19 billion was sent back to Bangladesh by an estimated 12 million migrant workers last year, according to the central bank.
Bangladesh has reported more than 193,000 infections and 2,457 deaths so far.
But medical experts say the actual numbers are probably much higher because so few tests have been done.
The South Asian country has restarted economic activities after lifting a month-long virus blockade in late May, despite the number of cases continuing to rise.
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