A case has been filed against ‘Flight Expert’, one of the country’s leading online air ticket booking platforms, over allegations of embezzling crores of taka from customers. Police have arrested three officials of the platform in connection with the incident.

Confirming the matter on Sunday (August 3), Officer-in-Charge of Motijheel Police Station, Mezbah Uddin, said the arrested individuals are: Head of Finance Sakib Hossain (32), Chief Commercial Officer Saeed Ahmed (40), and Chief Operating Officer AKM Sadat Hossain (32).

OC Mezbah Uddin told the media that a customer named Bipul Sarkar filed the case at Motijheel Police Station on Saturday night, naming five accused. The remaining two are Flight Expert’s Managing Director (MD) Salman Bin Rashid Shah Saim and his father, MA Rashid. Efforts are underway to arrest the other accused, he added.

Commenting on the issue, Deputy Commissioner of the Media and Public Relations Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Muhammad Talebur Rahman, said that some employees of Flight Expert came forward on Saturday, alleging that the owner, Salman Bin Rashid, had shut down the company’s operations and fled abroad with his family after misappropriating a large sum of money. They later filed a complaint at Motijheel Police Station.

Subsequently, it was revealed that many individuals had funds stuck with the company. The accused allegedly embezzled around Tk 4 crore from 17 different organizations before fleeing. Following a formal complaint from one of the victims, a case was registered, and three people have since been arrested.

Sources said Flight Expert suddenly shut down its operations on Saturday evening, leaving thousands of customers and ticket-selling agencies in distress. Many had made advance payments for ticket bookings.

The company used to offer various services, including domestic and international airline ticket bookings, hotel reservations, tour packages, and visa processing.