CID busts Telegram-based pornography racket in capital

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Bangladesh Police has arrested nine members of a pornography racket in Dhaka which was being run through the messaging app Telegram.

The arrestees are—Abu Sayem alias Mark Suckerburg, 20, Moshiur Rahman Shuvo, 26, Shahed Khan, 22, Keton Chakma, 20, Nazmul Hasan Samrat, 22, Maruf Hossain, 34, Shahriar Afsan Avro, 24, Juanid Bagdadi Shakil, 20 and Jashim Uddin, 38.

The agency claimed that the racket used to blackmail and sell sensitive and indecent videos of juvenile girls for months, and thus they amassed more than Tk1 crore in last one year. 

"They had several groups on Telegram, and people from middle eastern countries, Singapore, Portugal, Malaysia, Canada, the UK and the US were among their subscribers for Tk1000-2000 monthly," Mohammad Ali Mia, additional inspector general and chief of CID, told the media at the CID headquarters on Monday.  

The ringleader of the racket, identified as Abu Sayem, used to pose himself as Mark Suckerburg in the groups.

"We have found crores of money transactions through his bank accounts. He has around four lakh subscribers on different Telegram channels boasting around 20,000 sensitive videos and a total of 30,000 contents," said the CID chief.

The nine were arrested from different parts of the capital in a drive carried out by the CID's cyber police centre, informed the CID chief.