A Dhaka court has sent Md Mahbub Hasan to jail for allegedly purchasing copper cables stolen from the “red telephone” line connected to the Prime Minister’s Office at the Bangladesh Secretariat.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Kamal Uddin passed the order following a police request. Sub-Inspector Injamul Hossain of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s CTTC unit told the court that Mahbub, 34, admitted to buying the stolen cables but refused to disclose their location.
The theft occurred between 22 May and 1 June, when aaround 110 metres of BTCL copper cable were removed from the rooftops of Buildings 1, 2, and 3 in the Secretariat. The stolen government-owned cable is valued at around Tk105,000.
Following the incident, BTCL Junior Assistant Manager (Technical) Md Faisal Kabir filed a case with Shahbagh Police Station. Using CCTV footage and digital forensics, police arrested two outsourcing staff, Ranjan Chandra, 26, and Rizakul Islam, on 4 June. A court later granted five days for their interrogation.
During questioning, Ranjan allegedly admitted to stealing the cables, extracting the copper, and selling it at a scrap shop near Dhaka University’s Ekushey Hall.
Based on his information, police arrested Mahbub Hasan as the primary buyer.
Investigators said that Mahbub’s refusal to reveal the stolen items’ location prompted the court to keep him in jail during the ongoing investigation.
