Boast appeared a hoax

Police did not employ any security expert to monitor the electronic surveillance boasted in their multilayer security arrangements during this year's Amar Ekushey Boi Mela.

Worse, they didn't even have a proper plan outlining strategic points for setting up 75 CCTV cameras at the venue, on the premises of Bangla Academy and Suhrawardy Udyan.

These security anomalies were found in an investigation by The Daily Star following the murder of secular writer Avijit Roy and the killers' easy escape through the much-touted four-layered security measures of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) during the fair in February.

It was found that 64 of the CCTV cameras were actually rented from a garden-variety supplier of electronic equipments, Silver Sun Electronics, and were not even connected to the control room of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Headquarters.

Assistant Commissioner Shibli Noman of the DMP's of Ramna Zone, however, sees nothing wrong in this.

"The law enforcers may rely on the organisers for the apparatus required for ensuring security of an event," he said.

"But it's the police who are responsible for security on the ground.

"Monitoring of the CCTV cameras also falls within the police's responsibilities," he added.

It was on the cops' instruction that the cameras were rented, according to Altaf Hossain, secretary of Bangla Academy.

The Academy didn't mind spending Tk 2,24,000 for that, said Member Secretary Jalal Firoz of the fair organising committee. "I doubt whether the police at all had the intention to ensure proper security."

DMP Spokesperson Monirul Islam cited a dearth of resources as the reason behind hiring the cameras, but said: "A number of our total 50 CCTV cameras were in operation alongside the rented ones this year."

He said the private contractors failed to send the camera feeds to the DMP control room which, according to Academy secretary Altaf, could monitor only around 10 of the 75 cameras.

"Although there was an expert from the DMP to monitor people's movement through the 60 cameras we had installed last year, there was none this year," Harun-Ur-Rashid, owner of Silver Sun Electronics.

Detailing how the digital surveillance worked this year, he said there were two control rooms -- one for Bangla Academy part and the other for the Suhrawardy Udyan -- each with two monitor panels. Each of the panels showed feeds from 16 cameras.

"Four technicians were deployed there only to look after technical glitches, not to monitor people's movement," Harun said.

He could not recall if any police official ever went to the Academy control room during the month-long fair.

"Officers from Shahbagh Police Station sometimes came to the Suhrawardy control room, but left soon putting in charge a constable, who barely even knew what he was doing there," said Harun.

Ramna Zone AC Shibli Noman, however, claimed that they had deployed officers of the rank of sub-inspector (SI) and assistant sub-inspector (ASI) for the job.

But let alone an SI or ASI or constable, there are doubts whether the officers-in-charge, who runs the police stations, know the basics of electronic surveillance, said security expert Maj Gen (retd) Abdur Rashid.

"We can undoubtedly agree on our lack of knowledge in matters of technology," he said.

As for the DMP's security layers, he said that according to the traditional standard, the four layers could be digital, physical, mid-line and far-line.

"The digital layer of security includes CCTV surveillance. From the live CCTV footage, any suspicious movement on the ground can instantly be detected by a trained security official at the control room," Abdur Rashid continued.

He then alerts men on the ground of this at once through walkie-talkie or mobile phone. Security men deployed in close proximity of the crowd constitute the second layer known as "the physical level".

The third security tier or "the mid-line" is deployment of security personnel, in uniform or plainclothes, at a distance covering key strategic points, said Rashid.

However, if the digital surveillance fails, so do the other layers in a ripple effect most of the time, the security expert said. "Failure in CCTV surveillance means failing prevention of crime."

Publisher Dipon, proprietor of Jagriti Prokashani, questioned the integrity of the law enforcers deployed at the fair.

"I saw cops accepting between Tk 10 and Tk 20 bribes for allowing publishers to take to their shelves books, published late in violation of the fair's policy.

"Then we saw a man being hacked to death and his wounded wife crying for help with armed policemen standing idle only yards away," Dipon added.

On February 26, a group of suspected militants attacked Avijit and his wife Bonya Ahmed with machetes on the pavement of Suhrawardy Udyan as they couple were returning from the book fair.

Though a large number of law enforcers were deployed around the spot, none did anything as the militants escaped, leaving behind Avijit's lifeless body in a pool of blood.

It was Jibon Ahmed, a photojournalist, who took the body and Bonya, who had lost a finger trying to save her husband, to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

A photo taken by Jibon showed an armed policeman standing idle beside Avijit's body lying face down on the pavement and a blood-drenched Bonya.

"Security failed, completely. The so-called multi-layer security came to nought," said another publisher Mesbahuddin Ahmed, proprietor of Ankur Prakashani.

"Even after the murder, we did not see any police car approaching the victims for help. Rather, police joined the crowd of onlookers as the killers wielding machetes fled," said Mesbah.

It could not be confirmed if the murder scene was caught on any camera as the cops denied access to the CCTV footage.

The fourth security tier or "the far-line" included walk through metal detectors.

"The police brought only two of the devices. We had to hire two more for Tk 1,90,000," said Jalal Firoz of the fair organising committee.

None has yet been arrested in connection with Avijit killing. All that the police did in all these months was repeatedly claiming to have identified seven killers, without releasing any further details, while three more secular bloggers have been hacked dead since.

"If the electronic surveillance worked properly, it could be useful both for gathering intelligence and for the investigation of the murder," said former inspector general of police Nurul Huda.