Bangladesh News

A wide network of organised carjackers in the capital are wreaking havoc on the lives of car owners with the help of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) officials who help the thieves to alter the identities of many stolen vehicles by providing genuine documents for them, said detective branch (DB) officials.

Carjacking gangs take only a month to change the identification numbers of a stolen vehicle’s engine, chassis and registration, and to procure other ownership documents, making it almost impossible to trace it.

In some cases gang members mange to secure genuine replacements of original documents of stolen vehicles, kept with BRTA.

A section of corrupt BRTA officials taking bribes ranging from Tk 50,000 to Tk 75,000 from the gang members, help prepare the genuine replacements of original documents, the DB officials said.

A DB team already found evidence that implicate at least 14 BRTA officials who verify and sign on the replacements for original documents of stolen vehicles in exchange for bribes, despite knowing that the papers submitted to them for registration and ownership are fakes.

Many carjacking gangs also prepare false documents for stolen vehicles up for sale.

The gangs of carjackers are usually comprised of street level criminals and those who have become millionaires over the years selling stolen vehicles, said members of a DB team formed to curb carjacking.

Police sources said they already detected a man who has become the owner of a multi-storied shopping complex in Mirpur area by jacking cars and selling those over the years. The sources however did not disclose the name of the wealthy carjacker now in jail, but they did say that DB recovered three cars from his possession.

Police and a number of carjackers in their custody, with whom this correspondent talked a few days ago, said 20 such gangs are operating in the capital, three of whom are involved in hijacking motorcycles, five hijack CNG run auto-rickshaws, while the rest are involved in carjacking.

Last year 180 cars, microbuses, CNG run auto-rickshaws, and motorcycles were either hijacked or stolen, police said.

During the same period a DB team recovered 77 stolen vehicles including motorcycles while police recovered another 50.

TOP BOSSES SKIM THE CREAM
Expensive cars like Toyota Allion, Toyota Premio F, Corolla G, and Corolla X are the favourite targets of the carjackers. They wander on city roads mainly in taxi cabs in search of targets and as opportunity comes they hijack the cars from the drivers, sometimes at gunpoint. The hijackers do not even hesitate to kill the drivers if they pose any threat.

For hijacking an expensive car, a team of street level carjacking unit comprised of five to six members gets only Tk 75,000 to Tk 1,00,000 from their immediate boss, meaning Tk 15,000 to Tk 20,000 for each of the team members, while the supervisor gets Tk 50,000 to Tk 1,00,000 a car.

“We hand over the hijacked cars to top leaders of the syndicate as quickly as possible in fear of police actions to follow,” Shamim, who runs a street level gang of carjackers, told The Daily Star. Police detectives arrested him a few days ago.

Minutes after snatching a car or microbus, the carjackers call their supervisor over mobile phones and the boss then start contacting his bosses, who finally take the stolen vehicle into his custody.

After preparing documents for a stolen car, the gang leaders sell a Premio F for Tk 12 lakh to Tk 15 lakh, while a stolen Corolla G, Corolla X, or an Allion is sold for Tk 10 lakh to Tk 12 lakh, said the DB officials. The carjackers approach potential buyers offering prices much lesser than market prices saying they are selling the car due to their urgent need for money.

When the buyers cross check the documents with BRTA they usually find them to be genuine and they buy the cars, the DB officials added.

“Once the papers are ready with a new registration number for a stolen car, it is almost impossible to detect that the car is a hijacked one,” said a top DB official.

He said only in cases when they get specific information, they may detect such a stolen car.

HOW THE PAPERS ARE MADE
A few days into hijacking or stealing a car or a microbus, the carjackers first take it to a specific auto workshop where mechanics erase one or two digits of the chassis and engine numbers, and engrave different digits in place of the original ones.

Investigations revealed that only two to three persons in the city have the expertise to do the job flawlessly. It is done so perfectly that BRTA inspectors or traffic sergeants also can hardly detect the forgery.

Then other members of the gang, who maintain an unholy nexus with a section of corrupt BRTA employees, collect photocopies of original documents of the stolen vehicle from the authority.

The thieves then forge letters of credit, customs invoices, bills of entry, customs clearance certificates and importers’ documents relating to the stolen vehicle. They also collect showroom documents from a section of car showrooms, with whom also they maintain good relations.

They then forge all necessary signatures and seals of officials concerned on the papers and apply for registration to BRTA.

According to the rules, BRTA officials send the submitted forged documents to the customs, National Board of Revenue and to other authorities concerned for counter checking, but the hands of the carjackers reach so far that before those documents could even reach the authorities for counter checking they are hijacked on the way by the carjackers and brought back to BRTA, completely furnished with proper clearances from those authorities.

Police said one of the most infamous carjacking gang leaders, Dada Firoz, is a master of forging documents. Firoz is dubbed ‘dada’ by his fellow gang members with reverence for his expertise. Police officials said although he has a master’s degree, he prefers the illegal profession.

BRTA OFFICIALS, EMPLOYEES UNDER SURVEILLANCE
Recently, police detectives found at least 14 officials and employees of BRTA who are involved in carjacking syndicates. They work in the Mirpur office and in Ikuria, Keraniganj office of the agency.

The detectives came to know about the involvement of the BRTA staff after they had arrested ringleaders of several carjacking gangs last year and had started a through investigation of the gangs’ activities.

DB officials said some BRTA officials and employees have long been involved in illegal activities in exchange for large sums of money. Their activities however are now under surveillance.

The officials also said soon a drive will be launched to arrest the corrupt staff of BRTA after cases are filed against them.

The detectives said the number of carjacking incidents will drop significantly if dishonest BRTA officials and employees are brought to book.

Police investigations also revealed that after having new registrations, some stolen cars are even sold at some legitimate car showrooms.