As Eid-ul-Fitr draws nearer, ticket touts are flying under the radars of law enforcement agencies by finding a safe haven in online websites for classifieds.
Lax monitoring of the most popular classifieds portals have allowed profit-hungry touts to flood the websites with posts, mostly offering rail tickets of convenient dates.
As a result, tickets from all modes of transport – albeit at astonishingly jacked up rates – are now just a click away from those who are desperate to reach their village homes in time for Eid.
Railway officials said hand-to-hand ticket touting has become a risky job in recent years because of constant surveillance by the police and RAB forces. However, it has now forced culprits to take their business online – where there is less chance of getting caught.
Although the official selling of rail tickets ended on Monday, tickets for many routes could still be bought from the online portals as of 3pm yesterday.
During a quick browse through classifieds in Bikroy.com, a popular online e-commerce portal, the Dhaka Tribune found 34 advertisements by ticket touts posted at the site.
Similar advertisements were also found on another popular classifieds portal – Clickbd.com.
Although the classifieds were posted by individual users, sources told the Dhaka Tribune that several syndicates were active in ticket resale during the two Eid festivals.
Officials said ticket touts buy the bulk of tickets reserved under the quota for online customers. Although each account can purchase only four tickets from the railway website, touts create several accounts to purchase tickets, a railway official said.
Outrageous asking prices
Take the example of Sharif, a Bikroy.com user from Gulshan who claimed to have train tickets of different routes.
He posted advertisements offering two Dhaka-Comilla rail tickets for July 15, two Dhaka-Jessore tickets for July 15 at the cost of Tk1,000, two Dhaka-Chittagong tickets for July 17 for Tk700, and four AC compartment Dhaka-Chittagong tickets for July 15 for Tk4,000.
In another post, a user named Md Joy from Dhaka’s Tejgaon was asking Tk1,800 for three Dhaka-Chittagong Turna Express tickets for July 14; the original price is Tk1,020.
When contacted by the Dhaka Tribune, Joy said he would not be able to bring down his asking rate as he himself had to pay extra to acquire the tickets. He, however, refused to disclose where he had bought the tickets from.
Another user named Md Tauhidul Islam from Chittagong’s Agrabad posted a classified asking Tk1,500 for a single Mohanagar Godhuli Express ticket from the port city to the capital for July 16. The original cost for a single ticket is only Tk340.
Kibria from Malibagh was offering to sell two non-AC seats in Subarna Express for July 17 for Tk1,600; the original fare is only Tk750.
When contacted over the phone, Kibria said he had bought the tickets from touts and was looking to resale those as he did not need the tickets any more.
Monitoring against ticket touts
Although such practice was going on in a wide scale, law enforcers are continuing their crackdown against the culprits.
On Sunday, the police arrested two people from Kamalapur in connection with ticket touting through Bikroy.com.
Regular surveillance is maintained near the rail stations, said Government Railway Police (West) Superintendent Nazrul Islam, adding: “We have already arrested three such people and a case was filed against them for reselling of train tickets online.”
Railway Minister Mujibul Haque said the government was firm about bringing the ticket touts to justice.
The Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Nirapotta Bahini (RNB) officials remain posted at all railway counters to combat any irregularities, the minister said, adding that online ticket sales also remained under monitoring.
Bikroy.com Director (marketing) Misha Ali told the Dhaka Tribune their fraud management team scrutinises thousands of advertisements posted on the site everyday.
“However, some disproportionate advertisements might have been published because of the increased volume of advertisements posted centring Eid,” he said.