Former minister Md Tajul Islam started his career smuggling goods before entering politics. The disgraced politician fled to Kolkata after the Awami League government collapsed last August. He has rebuilt his illegal cross-border smuggling network between Bangladesh and India from his new base. Sources say Tajul stepped into the void left after MP Anwarul Azim Anar was killed. The former minister directs these criminal activities while living comfortably in India.
Tajul has stashed massive wealth across multiple countries including Dubai, America, Britain and Canada. His wife Fauzia Islam also controls expensive properties in Dubai through fake names. The couple registered at least four Dubai apartments under false identities and rent them out for profit. His younger brother and former assistant manage these overseas investments from their Dubai base. Tajul also holds two houses in New York and Florida worth nearly 20 crore taka.
Back home in Bangladesh, Tajul registered dozens of properties under his driver and domestic workers names. He controls 42 apartments and 50 shops across Dhaka through these fake arrangements. The rental money gets smuggled to Kolkata through illegal transfer networks called hundi. Anti-corruption officials have only seized a tiny fraction of his total wealth. Tajul lives like a king in a luxury Kolkata apartment while planning his permanent move to Dubai.
Tajul has stashed massive wealth across multiple countries including Dubai, America, Britain and Canada. His wife Fauzia Islam also controls expensive properties in Dubai through fake names. The couple registered at least four Dubai apartments under false identities and rent them out for profit. His younger brother and former assistant manage these overseas investments from their Dubai base. Tajul also holds two houses in New York and Florida worth nearly 20 crore taka.
Back home in Bangladesh, Tajul registered dozens of properties under his driver and domestic workers names. He controls 42 apartments and 50 shops across Dhaka through these fake arrangements. The rental money gets smuggled to Kolkata through illegal transfer networks called hundi. Anti-corruption officials have only seized a tiny fraction of his total wealth. Tajul lives like a king in a luxury Kolkata apartment while planning his permanent move to Dubai.
