Twelve gangs have been purchasing uniforms of various law enforcement agencies from wholesale markets around Dhaka, especially Polwel Super Market in Paltan and the Kachukhet market.
According to several officials of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Detective Branch, police have managed to identify and capture about 70-80 racketeers from these 12 gangs from various drives.
In separate drives on Saturday, DB officials nabbed 16 fake DB men from the city’s Rampura and Ramna areas just as the criminals were preparing for one of their operations, said DMP’s Deputy Commissioner (Media) Masudur Rahman.
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DMP Joint Commissioner (DB) Abdul Baten added that the gangs were illegally collecting the uniforms from the Polwel Super Market and other markets where law enforcement agency uniforms and equipment are sold.
“We have warned the shop owners to not sell uniforms to anyone other than legitimate police officials and have informed them that we will monitor their movements regularly,” said Baten.
“Some form of regulations need to be put in place so that uniforms and equipment cannot be sold like this in wholesale markets,” he added.
DB officials further said that on being released from jail, these gang members would again outfit themselves as law enforcement agents, especially as DB, and carried pistols, handcuffs and wireless sets.
On February 12, 11 fake DB men who were nabbed from the city’s Khilgaon area confessed that they had previously been arrested many times. They also said each of their gangs had about 7-10 members each and every gang had city and district level sources countrywide.
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One of the arrested said each time they were jailed, they only needed to wait about three to four months before getting bail, since the gangs have legal teams on their payroll who then step in to ensure their release.
The leader of the Khilgaon gang, Yusuf Kazi, told police while in remand that many mid-level police officials often aided the gangs in their criminal activities.
DMP Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crimes Unit (CTTC) Inspector Jahirul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune: “The fake DB gangs are mostly concentrated on the outskirts and remote areas of the city, and they target and mug black market businessmen, especially those who trade in gold and illegal money transfers.”
Many of the arrested fake DB men have confessed to targeting these businessmen as they are the least likely to file complaints with the police. They also said they recruited sources whose job was to scope out pedestrians carrying money, and then targeted them on route to their place of business or banks.
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Often, police officials themselves aid these racketeers by providing them with police equipment or information.
On April 6 this year, Uttara East police station Assistant Sub-Inspector Alamgir Hossain was arrested on charges of assisting criminals by providing them with his police equipment. He subsequently gave a confessional statement before the court under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code, admitting to his role in such criminal activities.
Stating that ahead of Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr these gangs were getting more active, DMP Joint Commissioner (DB) Abdul Baten said the DMP would also increase drives against them and called for civil society members to help by going to the police with any information they might have about these criminals.
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
