A joint team of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Detective Branch (DB), Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit, and Cox’s Bazar district police arrested Arif Mainuddin, aged 50, for allegedly impersonating a Prime Minister’s adviser. He was detained around 1:30 a.m. on March 21 in the Chakaria area of Cox’s Bazar. The arrest was announced at a press briefing at the DMP Media Center on Sunday by DB chief Shafiqul Islam.

According to police, Mainuddin created a fake government gazette dated February 17, 2026, claiming he had been appointed as an adviser to the Prime Minister with the rank of state minister. He used this forged document to deceive individuals in both public and private sectors. Investigators also found that he had produced counterfeit visiting cards and used a falsified government logo and letterhead to circulate another fake gazette on February 10, 2026, declaring himself a specially honored person of the state.

Authorities recovered false gazettes, visiting cards with the Prime Minister’s photo, and two mobile phones from his possession. Legal proceedings against him are underway.