As many as 56 out of 78 fugitives are based either in Kolkata or along the Indo-Bangladesh border from where they direct accomplices engaged in extortion, kidnapping and protection rackets.
The biggest operational tool in their hands is the humble cellphone. Without it they wouldn?t know what to do.
The crime bosses escaped to India when law enforces came down hard on them with the help of army soldiers during the caretaker regime before the Awami League-led government captured power.
Bangladesh and India have exchanged several lists of criminals hiding across the border. The last exchange took place in September during a top level Border Guard Bangladesh-Border Security Force conference in Dhaka.
But it?s business as usual with the two sides accusing one another of not giving priority to nabbing and deporting fugitives essential for busting well-oiled crime operations whose turnover runs into billions of Takas.
Intelligence sources said top Bangladeshi criminals are staying in Bongaon, Bohorampur, Helacha, Bagdah, Chagdah, Murshidabad, Jalpaiguri and Siliguri and other bordering areas of Paschimbanga and continue to commit crimes, including extortions, with the help of their cronies. Bandit king Shahid of Old Dhaka and Shahadat, Nabi Hossain and Subrata Bain who held sway over various parts of the capital escaped to India soon after combing operations were launched.
An official of the police headquarters said close accomplices of the fugitives, using Indian mobile phones, are engaged in collecting tolls from the rich, particularly businessmen.
They demand huge sums of money from rich people as toll and force them to pay sometimes at gunpoint, he added.
According to a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) source, six suspected criminals, accused of killing two DB men, are residing across the borderlines of Paschimbanga and in Nepal.
Of them, five ? Tanvirul Islam Joy, Haris Ahmed alias Haris, Molla Masud, Khorshed and Jishan ? are staying in Paschimbanga while the other, Trimurti Subrata Bain, is in Nepal.
According to the list, top criminals Tanvir Islam, Prokash Kumar Biswas and Molla Masud are hiding in India, Aminur Rasul Sagar alias Tokai Sagar in the USA and Imam Hossain in Canada.
Sources said Indian police handed over a total of five listed criminals of Bangladesh, including a close aide of notorious criminal Kala Jahangir, to CID.
They are Habibur Rahman Taj, 29, Ibrahim, 31, and Selim alias Lambu Selim, 35.
Police said Taj, second-in-command of Kala Jahangir, had been hiding in India under the alias ?Naimul Hasan? with Ibrahim and Selim under the aliases ?Sohel Ibrahim? and ?Biplob?.
Taj and Selim were arrested in Kolkata in March 2007 while Ibrahim in August on charges of illegal intrusion into India and were sent to jail.
Kolkata police planned to deport them to Bangladesh after their jail terms, but there is no extradition treaty between the two countries.
Home ministry sources said the criminals were later handed over to Bangladesh following a request from the authorities concerned.
Police sources said the arrestees are also infamous, although their names were not included in the list of 23 top criminals declared by the then government on December 27, 2001 in the wake of a slide in law and order.
A home ministry official said the list handed over to BSF comprised some top criminals and members of United People?s Democratic Front of the CHT region.
?Our list contained the names of those who are wanted by the law enforcement and intelligence agencies. It was prepared in association with the law enforcers,? the top official of police HQ added.
Sources said the BGB list comprised the names of 12 top criminals and 13 UPDF members while the BSF list included the leaders and activists of different separatist groups active in some Indian states.
Source: daily-sun.com
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