Dhaka police arrest 41 ‘extortionists’ in four-day crackdown

Police have arrested 41 suspected extortionists across Dhaka over the last four days as law enforcers step up operations against extortion and land-grabbing networks.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Media and Public Relations Division shared the information in a message on Tuesday morning, but gave no details of those arrested.

The arrests come after a string of high-profile incidents in the capital that brought alleged extortion and land grabbing back into focus.

Several hundred people attacked and vandalised the Radda MCH-FP Centre, a private healthcare provider in Mirpur-1, for several hours from midnight on Sept 24.

Within two days, attacks and vandalism were reported at an office on a plot beside Rose Villa in Chand Udyan on the west side of Mohammadpur Beribadh, at a house in Shekertek in Adabor, and at New Gini Properties Limited in Manikdi under Cantonment, where the attackers were armed.

As allegations of extortion and land grabbing emerged, the authorities stepped up action.

Police and other law-enforcing agencies have said they would draw up lists and launch sustained drives to arrest alleged extortionists.