For more than two decades, 51-year-old Sazzad Mia has run a 120-square-foot scrap metal shop in the bustling heart of Karwan Bazar. His legitimate overhead is manageable, with rent and utility bills totalling around Tk 15,000 a month. But another payment is unavoidable: Tk 8,000 handed over every month to five local men.
“If you want to do scrap business here, this is a common rule. You have to pay this ‘toll’,” Sazzad said.
Sazzad’s experience mirrors that of thousands of small traders across the capital.
Despite the political transition in August 2024 and repeated promises of crackdown by the BNP-led government, a police intelligence report prepared in March and April found that extortion remains deeply entrenched, sustained by political patronage and, in some cases, police protection.
High-profile extortion attempts involving large businesses or influential people, such as the arrest of a former Jubo Dal leader in April over an alleged attempt to extort a doctor in Shyamoli, occasionally make headlines.
Now the internal report shows how thousands of roadside vendors, shopkeepers and small traders continue to pay regular “tolls” simply to stay in business.
It identifies around 1,200 extortionists operating in areas under 45 police stations of the capital, revealing how political turnover has largely changed who collects the money and how much traders have to pay .
For Sazzad, a pseudonym used to protect his identity, extortion has been part of doing business since he opened his shop in 2002.
Before the Awami League government fell on August 5, 2024, he paid between Tk 3,000 and Tk 4,000 a month, a sum that allegedly included a share for local police.
After the political changeover, local musclemen and people affiliated with different BNP bodies doubled the demand to Tk 8,000. They justified the increase by accusing him of having links with the Awami League, claiming he had attended its rallies.
Among the 18 to 20 scrap metal shops in Karwan Bazar, the standard monthly payment ranges from Tk 4,000 to Tk 5,000.
Traders believed to have links with the now-banned Awami League often pay double.
Those using scrap businesses as fronts for selling stolen infrastructure, including copper wire, iron manhole covers, window grills and construction rods, pay three to four times more, with single shakedowns sometimes reaching Tk 50,000.
The racket extends far beyond Karwan Bazar.
Near Navy Gali on Eskaton Garden Road, Riad Ahmed, also a pseudonym, runs a five-by-seven-foot tea stall. He pays Tk 100 every day to collectors he says are affiliated with the BNP.
He also pays another Tk 70 daily for an illegal electricity connection that powers a single lightbulb, managed by another politically backed collector. The daily payments are mandatory regardless of his sales.
Around 15 to 20 roadside tea, juice and fast-food stalls in the area face the same demands, with refusal risking the loss of their livelihoods.
However, BNP leaders rejected suggestions that the party’s local activists were systematically linked to extortion.
POLITICAL LINK
Of the 1,200 identified extortionists, 197 have explicit political affiliations, according to the list.
It shows 181 are directly linked to the BNP, including 94 from the party itself, 44 from Jubo Dal and 26 from Chhatra Dal.
The remnants of the Awami League account for 16 names on the list.
It says only 3.9 percent of the identified extortionists have abandoned the trade.
The political identities of the remaining individuals were not mentioned in the report, but those involved in preparing it told The Daily Star that most of the rest were either henchmen of top-listed criminals or leaders of the ruling party.
Police also identified 329 individuals providing protection to extortionists, including 271 with political affiliations.
Among them, 214 are from the BNP, two from the Awami League and one from the National Citizen Party.
The activity is concentrated in several areas of the capital.
Khilkhet tops the list with 112 identified extortionists, followed by Kalabagan with 100, Hatirjheel with 77, Mohammadpur with 59 and Badda with 57.
Adabor, Bhatara, Khilgaon, Uttara East and Pallabi complete the top 10, which together account for 58 percent of all listed extortionists in Dhaka.
Police sources attribute the concentration to the large number of footpath businesses, transport stands and construction projects in those areas.
The report also implicates members of law enforcement, documenting police involvement in 35 extortion cases.
DMP’s Mirpur Division recorded the highest number of 11 cases involving alleged police complicity in the report.
A senior official of the division said old underworld networks continue to operate in several pockets, targeting garment factories, developers and suppliers using the names of notorious local gangs.
PROMISES OF ACTION
Law enforcement agencies compiled the list following a March 4 pledge by Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed to identify and prosecute extortionists.
Niaz Mehedi, additional deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s media wing, said police have taken a tough stance against extortion.
Since the latest crackdown began in May, 759 people have been arrested across the capital, according to him.
He said police would continue to arrest extortionists regardless of political affiliation, although the DMP does not have separate data on how many of those arrested were among those identified in the report.
However, several senior DMP officials told The Daily Star that most of those arrested were not on the list.
“Only a handful of those on the list have been arrested, and most of them are lower-tier activists of the ruling BNP and its affiliated organisations,” one official said.
Echoing the zero-tolerance stance, BNP Joint Secretary General Syed Emran Saleh Prince told The Daily Star, “No one involved in extortion is being spared because of their party affiliation. Legal action is being taken against all those involved.”
“At the same time, a group is spreading false propaganda linking the BNP to extortion, which is unfounded. The BNP has issued strict instructions to its leaders and activists and is also cooperating with law enforcement agencies on the matter,” he added.
