Bangladesh News

Being the biggest kitchen and vegetable market in the city with over 5,000 shops, Karwan Bazar has always been a hub of extortion.

Cadres of top criminals such as Sweden Aslam (now detained in jail), Saidul alias “Killer” Saidul, Narottom Saha alias Ashiq, the Sobhan-Selim group and Ali group are active in collecting tolls from the illegal shops in 19 markets in and around Karwan Bazar area.

A section of law enforcers and political leaders allegedly get a handsome amount of share of the extorted money.

Besides, there are criminals who often kidnap businessmen to realise ransom.

Admitting extortion at Karwan Bazar, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner AKM Shahidul Islam said, “Extortion is going on here in various techniques and names of different criminals and associations and even through mutual understandings.

“But mysteriously traders do not lodge complaints with the police,” he told The Daily Star.

Sources said tolls are also collected from the makeshift wholesale kitchen markets, vegetable markets, fish markets and vegetable depots set up illegally on the footpaths at night.

Around 700 vegetable depots are there in the area, most of which are illegal. Tolls are collected from these through agents.

According to sources, several hundred trucks and pickups loaded with vegetables, fish and other commodities arrive at Karwan Bazar every day from across the country.

Criminals also extort the garment factories in the area, the hotels known for 24-hour sex trade, and the biggest cannabis market with over 200 dealers. Also there are over 50 centres that sell liquor illegally.

The DMP commissioner said police often conduct drives against sex crimes at hotels.

He, however, refused the allegation of extortion by police.

Extortion and other crimes had declined during the rule of the last caretaker government but as soon as the Awami League government came to power, control over the depots on the footpaths shifted while the rates and limits of extortion changed.

A staff of a hotel told The Daily Star that the hotels in the area earn around Tk 1-3 lakh a day each through sex trade and almost 50 percent of the earning is distributed among law enforcers and top criminals in the city.

Killings and gun attacks have often taken place whenever business owners have refused to pay tolls. Police also conduct drives at hotels whenever they do not get their share, sources said.

Earlier, criminal Alamgir, his brother and owner of a depot Jahangir, and Hotel West-inn manager SK Kuddus were shot dead in separate incidents in February following a feud over extortion.

Family members of Alamgir and Jahangir alleged that cadres of Sweden Aslam killed them.

In another incident, police recovered the body of Mamun, office secretary of the Juba League city unit committee who was made the head of a committee for collecting tolls from Karwan Bazar, from Gazipur two months ago.