Criminals use 1 lakh SIMs for extortion: BTRC orders 6 mobile operators to limit frequencies within country

[ Front page ] 2010-04-24
The country's listed criminals, drug peddlers, arms traders, human traffickers and hundi businessmen use at least one lakh Bangladeshi SIM cards surrounding Indian borders for extortion, informed sources said yesterday.

The law enforcement agencies have expressed their grave concern over the indiscriminate use of the country's SIM cards in the bordering areas of neighbouring India.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has ordered the six mobile phone operators to limit their frequencies inside the country.

Police sources said that arms traders also use Bangladeshi SIM cards in the Indian borderline that also is out of control of the Indian law enforcement agencies. Bangladeshi law enforcers could not take any initiative to nab the criminals, the sources said.

This is a matter of serious concern for the security of the country and an urgent solution needs to be thrashed out in this regard," police officials told The New Nation yesterday.

The arms deals being done in the region is difficult to trace because of the use of powerful satellite phones with their transponders from near the Indian border, police added.

Most of the chiefs of the big gangs are currently hiding in India, but they have already become so efficient in their operations that the chiefs demand extortion through mobile phones.

Dakat Shahid, Shahadat, Subrata Bain, Jishan, Tanvirul Islam Joy, Prakash and Bikash brothers, and Ashique are leading some of the most notorious gangs from Indian Territory.

Dakat Shahid is currently running his gang from the border areas between India and Nepal, police said.

The criminals also keep touches periodically with their targets over phones telling them where they had been a short while ago, signalling that they are constantly watching their targets' movement.

The arrestees revealed that in most cases the targets (Businessmen, industrialists and well off people) pay money as demanded by them being terrified.

BTRC, in the meantime, deactivated at least 2,826 SIM cards on request from the law enforcers in the last six months.

Police have received at least 1,525 complaints of phone calls that demanded tolls, with accompanying threats of deaths on failure to pay, DMP sources said.

But the sources said it is difficult to trace and rounded up the criminals because they operate their criminal activities staying outside the country.