Police launch crackdown on rumours

DOT Desk
The law enforcement agencies launched a massive hunt for cybercriminals and culprits spreading anti-state rumours on different social media platforms ahead of the 11th parliamentary elections, reports The Daily Sun.
Intelligence agencies, such as Detective Branch (DB), Special Branch (SB) and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) are also keeping a close surveillance on different social media and the users.
With the national election drawing nearer, a vested quarter having links with Jamaat-e-Islami and Chhatra Shibir has been active in the capital and elsewhere in the country to take advantage from political sensitivity by destabilising the law and order situation, detective sources said.
As part of their blueprint, Jamaat and Shibir activists are creating fake accounts on different social media sites, including Facebook and YouTube, to spread fake news and rumours against the prime minister and her government.
During separate drives in different parts of the country over the last two days, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) detained at least seven people, mostly belonging to Jamaat and Shibir, for spreading fabricated news and rumours.
RAB members arrested one person in the capital’s Gulistan area on Friday morning for spreading anti-state rumours on the social media.
The arrestee, KM Harun ur Rashid, is the admin of Zia Cyber Force, a Facebook page, said Lt Commander Ashekur Rahman, a company commander of RAB-3. Filing of a case against the arrestee is underway, the RAB official added.
Earlier on Thursday, RAB members detained six persons for spreading canards on social media. They are Sumon Khan 38, Mustakim BIllah 23, Fahim Bakhat Shipu 40, Nazrul Islam Liton 47, Hedayedt Ullah 24 and Abu Nayem 16. RAB Senior assistant director (media) Mizanur Rahman said they were arrested from Dhaka, Gazipur, Naogaon, Sylhet, Narayanganj, Mymensingh and Kishoreganj.
RAB said the arrestees were involved in spreading various false and fabricated news on different social media platforms to destabilise the congenial atmosphere ahead of the upcoming national polls.
As part of their plans, they have been posting various objectionable comments and photographs to defame many ruling party-nominated candidates, including the prime minister.
The arrestees had also been misleading the common people by posting objectionable photos and comments about father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on Facebook, the RAB assistant director said.
Law enforcers have already found involvement of Shibir men in creating and spreading of fake news websites.
Last week (Nov 29), RAB arrested two people from Mohammadpur and Tongi for allegedly creating fake websites in the name of major dailies and online newspapers. The detainees, identified as Kamal Hossain alias GM Kamal, 23 and website domain hosting seller Al Amin, 30, were involved in the politics of Islami Chhatra Shibir.
A few weeks ago, some fake websites looking like BBC Bangla and other popular news portals emerged on the internet. The difference between the original and fake sites was so subtle that readers easily mistook the fake ones for the original sites.
Following reports published in a Bangla daily on the matter, law enforcers launched an investigation and conducted drives to detain the culprits. It was found that a politically motivated quarter has been creating the websites to spread false news ahead of national polls. Apart from running anti-government propaganda, these websites have been publishing news against individuals running for office in the upcoming election.
RAB said the fake news sites are also a source of earnings through Facebook as their news spread, liked and shared quickly. It was also found that 70-75 per cent earnings of these sites go directly to Shibir fund.
Drives are underway to detain others involved in the process of making fake news. Earlier, law enforcers detained a Bangladeshi PhD student of South Korean University from Dhaka’s Airport Railway Station area on the same allegation.
The gang is spreading fake and provocative news through the fake websites ahead of the general election, RAB-2 superintendent of police (SP) Mohiuddin Alamgir said.
Earlier, law enforcers also detained three Islami Chhatra Shibir activists for using Facebook via proxy servers and posting anti-government remarks.
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) picked up Omar Faruk, 22, Tanvir Ahmed 18, and Tawhid Hasan 21, from different parts of the capital. “They are students, who go by the Facebook names — Majhi Chara Nouka, Albert Einstein and Tawhid Hasan,” said RAB-2.
They have been using Facebook by proxy servers and posting derogatory remarks against the government and the country.
Against the backdrop of such cyber crimes, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr Mohammad Javed Patwary recently said the Cyber Crime Monitoring Unit of the police headquarters has already strengthened its patrolling against cyber-crimes, including the spread of rumours through social media.
The unit will be strengthened comprising members from other units, including the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Special Branch (SB) and Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), said the IGP.
He said several hundred online news portals which spread rumours during the student protests have been identified and a total of 21 cases were filed in this connection.