Kolkata, Nov 3 (IANS) A wanted cyber fraud accused, against whom multiple cases have been registered in Karnataka, was arrested at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata while he was attempting to flee to Dubai, police said on Tuesday.

The accused, Sheikh Sabir, has been on the radar of the Karnataka police and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in connection with several fraud cases. A lookout circular was also issued against him after he evaded arrest for quite some time.

According to officials, immigration authorities intercepted Sheikh Sabir at the airport in the early hours of Tuesday when he was preparing to board a flight to Dubai. He was subsequently handed over to the police at the airport and formally arrested by the Bidhannagar Police.

The information has been shared with the Karnataka police. Authorities are now initiating legal procedures to secure his transit remand and take him to Karnataka for further investigation.

“On Tuesday morning, the accused, Sheikh Sabir, had planned to flee from Kolkata to Dubai. Accordingly, he was caught by the immigration department officials when he was trying to board the plane. He was detained because there was a lookout notice against him. Soon, he was handed over to the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport police station. The information has been shared with the Karnataka police,” said a senior officer of Bidhannagar Police.

Investigators allege that Sheikh Sabir was part of a major cyber fraud network and was involved in financial scams, including extortion and blackmail through threats of “digital arrest”. Multiple complaints led to the registration of a case at the Bengaluru City Cyber Crime Police Station.

As the accused remained untraceable, authorities had issued a lookout notice, which eventually led to his detention at the Kolkata airport. Officials said the process of transferring him to Karnataka is underway, with the Bidhannagar Police extending full cooperation to the investigating agencies.

–IANS

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