Youth held in Dhaka for blackmailing Indian girl

Around seven months back, an Indian girl from Kanpur met a Bangladeshi youth through a dating app.

They eventually became good friends and shared their messenger IDs. As their relationship became stronger, he even managed to convince the girl to share her personal photos and videos with him.

After a while, they had a fallout. The youth then started blackmailing her and threatened to leak those contents on social media unless she gives him 2.50 lakh rupees.

He asked her to deposit the money in a Bangladeshi private bank account at its Dakkhinkhan branch in the capital.

Distressed, she contacted the Cyber ​​Terrorism Investigation Team of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) of Bangladesh through their Facebook messenger. She explained her situation and provided her social media ID to the cyber cops.

With that, the cyber police managed to get the youth's mobile number.

Tracking it, police arrested the youth -- KM Mirazul Azam (28) – from his residence on Atish Dipankar Road in Mugda area on December 29.

Law enforcers also seized a mobile phone of Mirazul, a private university student, and found that he used various social media IDs to disseminate child pornography.

"The accused used to contact, collect, store and supply pornographic images and videos of children online," Sayed Nasirullah, a senior assistant commissioner of the Cyber ​​Terrorism Investigation Team, who led the operation, told The Daily Star yesterday.

Police filed a case against Mirazul with Ramna Police Station under the Pornography Act.

The police official said they have checked Mirazul's various social media accounts and found such contents.

"He demanded Rs 2,50,000 from an Indian minor by threatening to leak her personal pictures and videos on social media," he added. "He also gave his bank account number to her to deposit the money," he said.

Mirazul has confessed to his crimes before a Dhaka court recently, said the official.

The police official said they have increased cyber patrolling to prevent child pornography.

"We are also getting complaints regarding it from foreign nationals. Criminals are targeting foreign girls. We are getting queries from international law enforcement agencies in this regard," said the police official.

In October last year, the digital forensic team of cybercrime unit of CTTC arrested three Bangladeshi men after a 15-year-old US girl filed a complaint through the CTTC's Facebook messenger. During the arrest, law enforcers also seized pornographic contents from them.

Nasirullah suggested that guardians check what their children are doing on social media and remain alert regarding whether they are becoming victims of child pornography.