Gangs active again for silent extortion

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Organised criminals have started large-scale extortion again in different parts of the city through phone calls using the names of listed top criminals now on the run.

Threatened by the callers, a good number of people have already paid them the toll without informing the law enforcers. Moreover, some residents of the infested areas have opted to move elsewhere due to an increase in such crimes.

Residents of Sobhanbagh and Lalmatia in Mohammadpur, Mirpur, and Pallabi say operations by the phone gangs are infesting their locality. No less than 10 people have received threatening phone calls in Sobhanbagh and Lalmatia lately, they add.

An official from Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Mirpur Zone, said the crime is on the increase. He however could not give any statistics. “We have arrested several people in this connection, but their association with the top criminals couldn’t be proved.”

Police and Rab officials say petty criminals and frauds are extorting money identifying them as listed top criminals like Subrata Bain, Khandaker Tanveer Islam Joy and Shahadat Hossain.

The law enforcers say they have trapped a number of people in the act of collecting the extortion money. They appear to be mostly street urchins or heroin addicts lured to collecting the money by the frauds.

A police official says these so-called top criminals first demand a huge amount of money. In most of the cases they later settle at Tk 5,000 to Tk 10, 000 which suggests they are frauds.

However, criminals led by the three top listed criminals, especially Shahadat of Mirpur, also sometimes collect tolls from landlords and owners of under-construction buildings and business establishments issuing similar threats over phone.

In some cases in Mirpur and Pallabi they had even shot people refused to pay the demanded money, leaving them injured or even killed.

Law enforcers say they are facing serious problems in tracking down the callers because the SIM cards they use were sold earlier without verifying the subscribers’ addresses.

“If we receive any allegation, we collect callers’ list immediately from the operators concerned and launch an investigation. But finally we find that the SIM card was drawn using the address of a rice shop and so on,” says Anwar Hossain, deputy commissioner of DMP, Mirpur Zone.

Most of the times one of the petty criminals calls a target and hands over the set to another saying: “Now talk to Subrata Bain.” The gangs also use the names of two other top criminals.

The second man waiting nearby introduces him as Subrata, Khandaker Tanveer Islam Joy or Shahadat — who are now believed to be hiding in India — and asks for toll and threatens with dire consequences for refusal.

Asked about such crimes, Officer-in-Charge of Mohammadpur Police Station Shibli Noman said on Thursday they did not receive any such complaints.

However, The Daily Star has managed copies of at least two general diaries filed with the same police station on January 19-20.

Engineer Sardar Amin, managing director of Suncity Developers of Lalmatia, filed a GD with the police station on January 20 after a caller identifying him as Shahadat demanded Tk 10 lakh. The caller even threatened him with death if he failed to pay the sum.

A resident of Sobhanbagh filed a GD with the same police station on January 19 after an anonymous caller using the name of Subrata demanded Tk 1 lakh. The caller threatened to cause serious harm to his family if he did not pay the toll.

A businessman of Sobhanbagh filed a GD with Dhanmondi Police Station on Sunday mentioning that unknown callers demanded a hefty amount and threatened him with dire consequences.

Rab officials say they arrested seven so-called members of Shahadat gang in Mirpur on January 14.

Quoting the arrestees, the elite force says the criminals use Shahadat’s name and demand Tk 1 lakh to Tk 10 lakh from owners of under-construction building and businesses.

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