Desk Report:
More than 57 percent of those arrested recently on charges of extortion and illegal occupation are new faces. That is, more than half of the people caught by the police had no previous charges of such crimes. This information was obtained from the police authorities. The police have identified 6 reasons behind the involvement in extortion and illegal occupation, including the tendency of dishonest new people to take advantage of the vacuum and instability created by the fall of the Awami League government.
According to the police headquarters, from July 15 to August 17 of this year, law enforcement officers arrested 650 people in eight divisions of the country on charges of extortion and illegal occupation. Of these, 371 were new extortionists or illegal occupations. That is, 57.08 percent of the total arrests were new criminals. During this period, the highest number of arrests (323 people) on charges of the two crimes were made in Dhaka division. They were arrested from Dhaka metropolitan area and 13 districts of the division. Of them, 223 were new extortionists or illegal occupations. And analyzing the identities of the arrested people, it was found that most of them were leaders and workers of various political parties.
After the fall of the Awami League government in the student-public uprising on August 5, 2024, the law and order situation was fragile for a long time. Although the situation gradually improved, new criminals have taken advantage of the political change. They are getting involved in activities like extortion and illegal occupation. A large part of them are associated with political parties.
On the evening of September 5, a group went to occupy 27 kathas of RAJUK land next to Gate No. 2 of Gulshan Niketan. After receiving the news, RAJUK officials and employees went there. Then the occupants threatened them. When RAJUK people called Gulshan Police Station, the police went and arrested four people. They are Ruhul Amin Rahul, Mostaq Ahmed, Iqbal Hossain Bullet and Nripen Bepari. In addition, two people named Md. Abdul Rahman Sohel and Jasim Uddin escaped. Later, RAJUK Deputy Assistant Engineer Aminul Islam filed a case in the Gulshan Police Station in this incident. The Gulshan police station sent the four arrested people to court in the case. The court ordered them to be sent to jail.
Police said that three of the four people arrested in the Niketan incident are associated with BNP politics. They came to occupy government land on behalf of Abdul Rahman Sohel, who fled the scene. Iqbal Hossain Bullet is the vice president of Barguna district Jubo Dal and Ruhul Amin Rahul is involved in the politics of Barguna’s Taltoli Upazila Jubo Dal. Police said that no record of encroachment was found against them in the past. Therefore, they are known to the police as new illegal encroachers.
The deputy assistant engineer of RAJUK, the plaintiff in the case, told Ajker Patrika, “The land in Niketan is part of the Hatirjheel project. A ladies’ park is supposed to be built there. Abdul Rahman Sohel has been trying to occupy the land since the change of government. They cut down many trees there and tried to put up a tin fence. When the RAJUK people got the news, Sohel and his people threatened them.
Similar to the Gulshan incident, many alleged new criminals are being arrested on charges of extortion and illegal occupation. Another such incident took place in Lalbagh in the capital. A few months ago, event management businessman Md. Shafiq was staying in the Shahidnagar Beribandh area around 9 pm. Suddenly, a man named Md. Chan Mia and some of his companions surrounded Shafiq. Chan Mia threatened Shafiq and said that once his (Shafiq’s) brother had harassed Chan Mia a lot and had handed him over to the police. Now the times have changed, to stay in the area, he will have to pay 1 lakh taka per month. Otherwise, Shafiq and his brother will have to leave the area. If they do not pay the money, their two brothers will be killed by a mob.
On July 8, army members arrested Chan Mia. Businessman Shafiq filed a case with Lalbagh police station on July 9 in this incident. He said that after the fall of the Awami League government, Chan Mia had been carrying out various criminal activities in the area.
It has been learned that Chan Mia is the former president of Ward No. 24 Jubo Dal. After the fall of the Awami League government, he occupied government land at Ghorapatti on the Lalbagh embankment and set up a rickshaw garage. Apart from this, he was dominating the area and extorting money.
Six main reasons
The police headquarters has mentioned six main reasons for the emergence of new names in extortion and illegal occupation and their arrests. These include the weakening of the old crime syndicates with the fall of the Awami League, opportunistic leaders and activists of the political party taking advantage of the unrest, and criminals who were previously out of sight are now being caught while becoming active.
The main areas of extortion and occupation are transportation, markets, housing, and labor organizations. Along with political identity, local influence is also being used. In addition to political patronage, new extortionists are emerging for various reasons including gang culture.
Regarding the involvement of new individuals in extortion, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the Crime Management Division of the Police Headquarters, Dr. Md. Ashrafur Rahman said, “Some individuals are taking advantage of the unrest in the society. They are getting involved in crime out of the desire to get a lot of things overnight. We are arresting them, bringing them under the law. We are doing this consistently.”
