Police map teen gangs; legal action remains tricky

Police are preparing coordinated drives against teen gangs and their patrons but face a tougher task beyond identifying and detaining suspects: taking action without specific allegations.

Amid growing concerns over juvenile involvement in organised violence, extortion, drug dealing, and other crimes, Police Headquarters (PHQ) has directed all police units to identify active gangs, their members, and influential people who allegedly organise, finance or protect them.

“We issued a directive to all police units across the country eight to 10 days ago and expect to receive the lists shortly,” Md Sayedur Rahman, additional inspector general (Crimes and Operations) at the PHQ, told The Daily Star on October 17.

Police will hold meetings after receiving the lists and draw up a detailed plan for coordinated drives in areas where juvenile delinquency is prevalent, he said.

Asked yesterday what action would be taken against those with no criminal records, Sayedur said they would not be included in the list.

“The action will target those who threaten public safety and violate the laws of the state,” he added.

The directive covers all units, including the Special Branch, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Special Response Battalion (SRB), formerly the Rapid Action Battalion, and district police.

An SRB official said the force had completed preliminary mapping of 1,333 juvenile groups, 213 organisers or leaders, and 27 alleged patrons.

The lists were undergoing final departmental verification before submission to the PHQ.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the SRB had detained 174 suspected gang members since February 12.

However, police acknowledge that identifying and detaining suspected gang members is easier than taking further legal action when no specific offence can be established against them.

Additional IGP Sayedur Rahman and SRB Director General Md Ahsan Habib said the difficulty often lay in proceeding against suspected gang members and alleged patrons without specific criminal allegations.

Sayedur said the police had to act within the law while addressing the problem.

“If we arrest juveniles under the Special Powers Act, it will not be a good practice. We can be strict but cannot be cruel,” he said.

He added that investigators would also examine whether politically influential people were patronising juvenile gangs.

According to police officials, adult criminals often use teenagers to commit offences for personal gain, exploiting their vulnerability and the comparatively lenient treatment juveniles may receive under the law. 

Teenagers can also be easier to influence and recruit into criminal activities, they said.

OUTDATED LISTS

The planned nationwide initiative also highlights the absence of a comprehensive, up-to-date database of juvenile gangs. Different police units maintain their own lists, many of which are outdated and may not reflect the situation on the ground.

Existing PHQ data list 307 teen gangs nationwide, including 93 under Chattogram Metropolitan Police, 78 under Dhaka Range and 54 under Chattogram Range.

The DMP list contains 41 gangs, while Khulna Metropolitan Police has 13, Rajshahi Metropolitan Police 12, Sylhet Metropolitan Police five, Barishal Metropolitan Police three and Khulna Range four.

No gangs are listed under Gazipur Metropolitan Police, Rangpur Metropolitan Police, Rajshahi Range or Barishal Range.

PHQ data further show that 270 members of 48 gangs faced 69 criminal cases during the first nine months of this year. Of those cases, 21, or 30.4 percent, were linked to gang clashes. 

The 48 gangs had 577 listed members, according to the data.

CUMILLA DRIVES 

The nationwide plan comes amid intensified police action in Cumilla following the September 18 killing of Ishayat Shahriar Oprotim, a Class VII student and son of Nahida Begum, an associate professor of Bangla at Comilla University.

Police launched coordinated anti-gang drives on September 23, involving all 18 police stations in the district and the Detective Branch.

The alleged involvement of teen gang members in the killing fuelled demands for stronger action against juvenile crime.

By October 15, police had detained 2,811 suspected teen gang members in Cumilla alone. Many were subsequently released on bonds furnished by their families.

The scale of the detentions raises questions about how police distinguish between those suspected of specific crimes and teenagers identified through gang mapping.

Separately, a young man was stabbed in the abdomen and his father was shot in the leg when six masked assailants attacked them in Mohammadpur on October 15. Police suspect the attack stemmed from a longstanding rivalry between two criminal gangs, identified as the Patali and Sazzad groups.

Police and local residents described the groups as juvenile gangs allegedly involved in drug dealing, snatching, and extortion, with older youths directing their activities. Their operations reportedly extend across several parts of Mohammadpur, where gang-related crime remains a persistent concern.

ARRESTS ALONE WON’T DO 

Md Omar Faruk, a professor of criminology and police science at Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, said arresting or detaining juveniles alone would not solve the problem.

He said teen gangs often operate under the patronage of politically backed individuals who use them to commit crimes. Law enforcers should target these patrons, he added.

“Bringing their political patrons to justice would significantly reduce teen gang culture and related crimes,” he said.

Many gang members, he said, are rootless, beyond parental control and addicted to drugs. Those already involved in gangs need close monitoring, care, and counselling.

“Every part of society must be involved in tackling this problem. The police alone cannot do it,” he said.