Birth registration forgery: Ctg city for resuming certificate issuance

The Chattogram City Corporation has requested the Registrar General Office to withdraw the suspension of the birth registration issuance in five wards of the city.

The process was suspended after a group of cybercriminals, by hacking into official accounts of the city corporation, forged hundreds of certificates in the last two weeks.

The city corporation on Thursday wrote to the Local Government Division, saying the suspension should be lifted as people seeking certificates in the said wards are suffering.

On Wednesday, the counter-terrorism unit of Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) arrested two people, including a woman, for their involvement in forging certificates.

So far, six people have been arrested in three cases filed over the forgery incidents.

On 24 January, the Registrar General Office suspended the certificate issuance after cybercriminals hacked into five official birth registration accounts in South Kattali, Pahartali, Andarkilla, South Central Halishahar and North Patenga and forged 547 certificates between 8 and 21 January.

But on Tuesday night (24 January), threat actors again hacked into the account of Lalkhan Bazar and issued 133 additional fake certificates.

In the letter, the city corporation requested the Registrar General Office to take necessary steps to prevent such incidents in the future while resuming the birth registration process.

The Counter Terrorism Unit has been conducting drives to apprehend the certificate forgery ring members after three cases have been lodged with the Khulshi, Halishahar and Pahartali police stations.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of the Counter Terrorism Unit of CMP Asif Mohiuddin said, "A gang was running the forgery operation using various social media platforms including Facebook and WhatsApp. Many of the arrested accused have confessed to this."