How Dhaka became a ‘mobile phone theft capital of the world’

On a recent evening, Mamun, a college student, was travelling to Uttara on a public bus. Stuck in a traffic jam near the airport, on a dark road without street lights, he was casually browsing Facebook on his mobile phone while sitting by the window. 

Suddenly, he felt a push in his hand, and someone snatched his phone away. 

Looking out, Mamun saw the silhouette of a man. He shouted, "Hey, how dare you!" but the thief mockingly replied, "Catch me if you can!" Mamun got off the bus, yelling for help. The thief taunted him for a while by waving his hand and then vanished into the darkness.

When Mamun returned to the bus, no one showed him any sympathy. One called him a "fool" and said, "Why did you keep your phone by the window? Don't you know phones are robbed here now and then?" 

Devastated, Mamun didn't reply. 

He didn't even go to the police station to file a GD. "I was fearing the police officers too would ridicule me for being so careless," he told The Business Standard. 

This is how normalised phone theft has become in Dhaka city – most people don't even feel for the victim anymore, let alone come forward to help. On top of that, thieves too have grown so confident that they can flaunt their actions like movie heroes and easily get away with the crime. 

According to reports, currently, 20 mobile phone robbery rings are active in the capital, each with five or more members. The leader of each group assigns the other members a daily target of stealing five to seven mobile phones.

From this estimate, at least 500 mobile phones are stolen every day in the city.

Even if we take the most conservative estimate revealed by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police last year that 300 mobile phones are stolen every day in the capital, that means a mobile phone is stolen in Dhaka less than every five minutes.

To put this into perspective, nearly 250 phones are stolen every day in London, according to a 2022 report. This means that on average, a mobile phone is stolen every six minutes in the city. Another report shows that 134 phones were lost or stolen in Mumbai every day in 2021, meaning one every 11 minutes.  

Based on this, Dhaka could very well be labelled as a "mobile phone theft capital of the world."

Such has the city's reputation become that while navigating a location on Google Maps, you may even come across places marked as "Ekhane mobile churi/chhintai hoy" (Mobile phones are stolen/robbed here).

Some Google local guides are responsible for this. 

While most local guides consider such actions as spam under Google's community policy, which can lead to suspension, others argue they are not wrong since mobile theft and robbery do occur in those areas.

One such area is beside the Saarc Fountain in Karwan Bazar, in the direction from Panthapath to Farmgate. On a recent visit there at around 8 pm, I found the footpath dark and devoid of any bright lights, making it a paradise for people involved in mobile stealing.  

Thieves nowadays change the IMEI numbers of stolen phones within three to seven seconds, making it virtually impossible to recover the stolen devices in most cases. "For more critical or high-end devices, thieves often avoid selling them in the local market and instead smuggle them across the border to be sold in India. Sometimes, these devices are also sold in parts in the local market

Arif Moinuddin, an IT and cyber security expert

Hanif Mia, a jhalmuriwala who stands near the Karwan Bazar Metro Rail Station, said mobile theft is a common occurrence in this area. "Every day, several such incidents take place here. Especially after evening, some youth are seen roaming around," he added. 

According to him, those youths wait for opportunities. Whenever they find a suitable target, they go for it, regardless of whether the person is a pedestrian, riding a rickshaw or motorbike, or even sitting on a bus.

In fact, I too identified some young people, either teenagers or in their early 20s, who seemed suspicious. I approached a couple of them to speak without revealing my identity. Somehow, they got wind of something unusual and refused to talk to me.

Some other footpath-based shopkeepers in the area informed me that they too suspect these young men, as they aren't familiar faces. They also said that these young men don't stay for long. After every few weeks, new batches of youth come here. 

The situation is even more dangerous in Mohammadpur, especially along the stretch of road from Bosila Bus Stand to Mohammadpur Beribadh Mor and its surrounding areas.

During my most recent visit there, I had an eerie feeling, even though it was only afternoon. One could hardly say the road belonged to Dhaka city because it looked quite desolate and the traffic was relatively low. It turns out, such places are ideal for robbing someone, not just of their mobile phones, but of their other belongings as well.

Local shopkeepers, people at the tea stalls and rickshaw pullers told me that incidents of theft occur here even during the day. However, the rate increases significantly once darkness falls.

Helpers of local buses Ramjan and Projapoti said they always warn their passengers to be alert, lest their mobile phones be snatched away from the window or while getting on or off the bus.

Meanwhile, "there is a BRTC bus depo here, and some bus helpers and drivers stay night long. Some of them are also involved in mobile phone theft," said rickshaw puller Jahangir, who took me from Bosila Bus Stand to Japan Garden City.

The latter is a good spot to "enjoy" the scenes of mobile theft "live." 

Fahim, a resident of one of the buildings in the housing complex adjacent to the main road, revealed that at night, they can often see people in the streets losing their mobile phones, wallets and other belongings to hijackers.

In particular, the Shia Masjid Mor is most vulnerable to such incidents, said a few security guards of the housing complex. They added that there are stops for several public buses here, and drivers and helpers are often the culprits.

However, it's not only solitary places that are prone to mobile phone theft. Some of the most crowded areas in the capital, like Gulistan Mor or Jatrabari Mor, also experience a large number of theft incidents every day.

Mamun Hawladar, a traffic police officer in Gulistan, told me that sometimes controlling the traffic becomes challenging for them, as people frequently approach them to complain about mobile theft incidents.

But according to him, if someone steals your belongings in a very crowded place and then disappears into the crowd, then even the regular police can do little about it.

"So, people should be careful when they are on the streets to ensure none of their belongings go missing," he said. 

Milton Kumar Deb Das, a sub-inspector (SI) stationed in Khilgaon and who has recovered over 6,000 lost mobile phones, also has some words of wisdom for the general public. 

According to him, keeping a mobile phone in hand or the front pocket might reduce the risk of theft. He added that the main reason girls and women experience more mobile phone theft is because they often keep their phones in their bags, which is not recommended.

However, Khandaker Farzana Rahman, Assistant Professor of Criminology at Dhaka University, believes that simply advising the general public to be careful is not enough to minimise mobile phone theft; law enforcement agencies must also take a more proactive role in addressing the issue.

"They should identify hotspots where such incidents occur frequently and arrange for proper street lighting, CCTV cameras and other measures to prevent people from falling victim to thieves," she said. 

Arif Moinuddin, an IT and cyber security expert, shared that nowadays mobile phone thefts have become highly advanced. They change the IMEI numbers of stolen phones within three to seven seconds, making it virtually impossible to recover the stolen devices in most cases.

"For more critical or high-end devices, thieves often avoid selling them in the local market and instead smuggle them across the border to be sold in India. Sometimes, these devices are also sold in parts in the local market," he said. 

And so, Moinuddin emphasised that precautionary measures from law enforcement agencies are now a crying need. Once a mobile phone is stolen, the chances of recovering it are very slim, which discourages many people from even filing cases.

He further reckoned that markings on Google Maps too cannot be very helpful, as such technology is not yet widely used in our country. 

"Similarly, other technologies may also be of limited use in Bangladesh. Instead, we should focus on preventing mobile phone theft incidents in the first place by strengthening area-based security and community policing," he added.