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Download PDF Thirty-year-old Morsheda Begum (assumed name) had sold a piece of land and paid Tk 1.2 lakh to Tofazzal Hossain for a job in Saudi Arabia. He sent her to the Gulf nation through a recruiting agency on April 29. Soon after she landed on the airport, she realised she fell victim to fraud.
“Four to five people took me to an unknown hilly place and gang-raped me. As I tried to resist, they swiped at me and eventually forced me into prostitution.
“After some days, a customer agreed to listen to my ordeals. He made a phone call to my husband, who informed Rab [Rapid Action Battalion]. The Rab forced the recruiting agency to bring me back home,” Morsheda said.
After her return she filed a case with Gulshan Police Station accusing Tofazzal and his accomplices Abdul Mannan and Ahmedur Rahman Majumder on July 4.
Rab-3 chief Wing Commander Sultan Hossain Nurani told The Daily Star: “Informed, we conducted an investigation and found the agency was involved in cheating women to traffic them.”
Like human trafficking, active criminals now resort to being tricky instead of using firearms or other means of violence. This new wave of swindling inflicts loss on city people eight times higher than that by robbers, thieves, muggers and extortionists, intelligence reports reveal.
The intelligence unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and Detective Branch (DB) have prepared separate reports based on the cases filed in 11 months since January 1 last year. The reports also substantiate the new trend of crimes.
In the 11 months, robbers, thieves, muggers and extortionists in 4,438 reported incidents looted cash, gold ornaments, motorcycles, electronic goods, cellphone sets and other valuables worth about Tk 51.49 crore.
Of the amount, robbers contributed to about Tk 6.3 crore, muggers Tk 6.19 crore and thieves about Tk 39 crore.
On the other hand, swindlers misappropriated cash, land, vehicles and residential flats worth about Tk 386.9 crore.
DMP Commissioner Naim Ahmed said: “The swindlers cash in on both ignorance and good faith of the innocent people.”
Terming the reports factual, Rab Additional Director General (ADG) Col Gulzar Uddin Ahmed said: “Criminals are getting involved in swindling due to increasing unemployment.”
Assistant Commissioner (AC-Crime) Mohammad Abdul Awal termed swindling an “intellectual crime” and said, “The crime trend is unchanged compared to the study conducted last year.”
He said the study was conducted on the basis of cases, but at least 35 to 40 percent victims don’t go to police. If this fact were considered, the amount of loss would be higher than what the studies reveal.
“In many cases, the victims don’t want to file cases with the hope of getting back some of the amount they paid to the swindlers,” the AC-Crime said.
He went on, “Most of the victims come to the police only when they realise they won’t get any of their money back.”
The DMP and DB have meanwhile formed two specialised units to check swindlers following a rise in the crime. They also detected several means of swindling, cheating and fraudulence.
Sources in DMP and DB say fraudsters swindle money from the people in the name of sending people abroad; in the name of providing jobs; by establishing fake educational institutions; posing as fake doctors and hospitals; becoming fake owners of land; forming fake NGOs; establishing fake certificates providing organisations, and through many other ways.
DMP Commissioner Naim told The Daily Star: “The crime study does not include the cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission.”
Replying to a question, he said: “This is the time of specialisation. The law enforcement and intelligence agencies are also carrying out their activities in specialised manners. We’re hopeful of checking the new crime trend soon.”
Asked, AC-Crime Awal said: “After formation of the two special units we have detected a huge number of organisations and people who lure others.”
Both Rab and police sources add they are conducting separate and joint drives against such criminals.
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