Our Bureau
AGARTALA, July 16 2021: Tripura police have arrested two youths for collaborating with the escape of Hakan Zanburkan, the Turkish ATM hacker, from a hospital here on July 9. The collaborators believed to have helped him to flee in Bangladesh.
Police on Friday said they have arrested Shakib Tripura (23), a resident of Manu Bazar of south Tripura and based on his confession captured Sukhen Bhowmik (42) from Barjala locality in Agartala.
A court remanded them in police custody for seven days to make progress in investigation into the sensational case.
Sources said the Shakib Tripura received Rs 2 lakh 99 thousand through Western Money Transfer from someone in Turkey. The money was used to plan the escape of Hakan Zanburkan.
Zamburkan, one of two Turkish nationals, who along with two Bangladeshis, were arrested in connection with ATM hacking in Tripura and a few other cities in the country, escaped rom a government hospital here where he was admitted for treatment.
West Bengal police had on November 19 2019 arrested them for cloning numerous ATMs and looting millions of rupees after receiving tipoff from Tripura and Assam counterparts. They detainees were lodged in the central prison near Agartala and their trial proceeding could not be taken up due to coronavirus pandemic.
The other Turkish national is Fettah Aldemir.
Police said 60-year-old Hakan Zanburkan fled from his ward at the GBP Hospital at around 11 a.m. on July 9. Police search failed to track him down.
He was admitted to the hospital from the jail after he complained health complications. The swindler gave a slip to the security guards and made his way out.
Investigation revealed that the detained Turkish nationals had also committed frauds with the ATMs in Mumbai and New Delhi.
Three dozen customers of the State Bank of India together lost nearly 50 lakhs in ATM frauds in Agartala. The bank already blocked ATM cards of several hundred customers as a precautionary security reason.
Police had arrested a local youth Sushanta Ghosh in January 2020 for allegedly collaborating with the hackers. Ghosh however found dead in the police lock up of West Agartala Police Station.
Police had claimed he committed suicide by hanging at the lavatory, a claim his family and friends refused to buy. The state government had announced a magisterial probe amid protests over the incident.