5 suspected hackers confess, 9 muggers held in Dhaka

Five members of a computer hacking group have confessed to stealing over one million taka using cloned SIM cards and a mobile money transfer service. The Detective Branch (DB) of police arrested the gang from the Banasree area of Dhaka on Sunday night and seized a number of unregistered SIM cards which had been used for sending money through bKash. Internet modems and software used for hacking were also found in the detainees' possession. “We detained them on Sunday night on charges of illegally transferring money from bKash accounts,” Dhaka Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner (media wing) Masudur Rahman said in a media briefing yesterday. The detainees are Khorshed, Abul Bashar, Md Arifur Rahman, Md Iqbal Hossain Opu and Md Hamidur Rahman Tushar. The DB's Joint Commissioner Abdul Baten at the same press meeting said the detainees had already confessed during primary interrogations to hacking Tk1,350,000 by cloning around 100 SIM cards and using fake bKash accounts.Muggers arrestedSeparately, another team of DB arrested nine alleged muggers from the capital's Chawkbazar area on Sunday night. The detainees were identified as Azizur Rahman Shekh, Ripon Ahmed, Md Labu, Monir Hossain, Jakir Hossain, Pappu Khan, Lutfor Rahman, Billal Hawlader and Ajim Bapary. Abdul Baten said it was typical for several hijacking and dope gangs to become active ahead of religious festivals such as Eid-ul-Azha. “Such crime rackets focus on the capital's cattle markets because a huge amount of money is transacted before the Eid,”he said.