Dhaka, April 18

Bangladesh police probing a $81 million electronic heist from the central bank said today that more than 20 unnamed foreigners were involved in audacious theft.

Hackers stole the money from the Bangladesh Bank’s account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in February and managed to transfer it electronically to accounts in the Philippines.

Shah Alam, lead police investigator in the case, said ‘at least 20 people from multiple foreign countries’ have been found to have been involved with the robbery.

“We’ve found concrete evidence that these people were involved in the heist,” Alam said, without giving details. “We can’t disclose their identity at the moment as it might hamper our investigation.”

Bangladesh’s Ambassador in Manila, John Gomes, said hackers were from nations other than the Philippines.

Alam said officers would seek assistance from Interpol to arrest the foreigners.

Investigators had earlier said local hackers were likely involved as ‘names of local development projects were used in payment advices sent to Federal Reserve Bank’.

Earlier, detectives found suspicious malwares in central bank’s computer system which had been sending information to Egypt, although it is unclear whether this played a role in the heist.

The spectacular cyber-theft has embarrassed the government, triggered outrage in the impoverished country and raised alarm over the security of Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves of over $27 billion.