Law enforcement and intelligence agencies rely on informants to gather intelligence and obtain information about criminal activities. Substantial sums are allocated to maintain these sources, but there is little transparency over how the money is spent.
From the Inspector General of police to Sub-Inspectors investigating cases, funds are allocated for the purpose. However, the police are unwilling to disclose the total amount set aside for informant payments, commonly known as source money.
Sub-Inspectors working at the field level allege that despite the allocations, the money rarely reaches most police stations. As a result, investigators often have to pay informants out of their own pockets, fuelling quiet resentment among many sub-inspectors serving at police stations.
Former police officials and crime experts say junior investigators have little scope to question the practice, even when senior officers allegedly pocket the funds meant for informants.
Asked about the matter, Kamrun Munira, spokesperson for Police Headquarters and an assistant inspector general, told TIMES that source money was not allocated to all police personnel.
Only officers who collect information on criminal activities and conduct operations with the help of informants receive the allocation, she said. Those who do not use informants are not entitled to the money. “An informant should be someone who can help the police prevent crime and provide reliable information,” she said.
The police, the former Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Detective Branch (DB), Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) and Special Branch (SB) all maintain networks of informants.
In many cases, one informant provides information to officers from multiple agencies.
Reports from different intelligence agencies and their sources are also coordinated in important and sensitive cases.
Yet there is no formal policy governing the recruitment of informants.
The money is officially allocated to maintain these contacts, but informants themselves are often accused of abusing their influence and engaging in criminal activities.
Md Omar Faruk, professor of criminology and police science at Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, told TIMES that there was no specific budgetary head for source money in the police. “Money is taken from other budgetary heads and spent for this purpose,” he said.
Questioning why crimes such as extortion, murder and drug trading continued despite the extensive use of informants, he said, “In many cases, informants themselves take benefits from criminals.”
Former Inspector General of police Baharul Alam said police informants were generally people who maintained links with criminals and the underworld, passing on information about criminal activities to law enforcement agencies. Many had previously been involved in crime or had connections within criminal circles.
On source money, he said the government did not publicly disclose details of the allocation. However, there was an allocation of Tk3,000 for investigating a case, alongside a separate allocation for informants.
Asked about informants becoming involved in crime, he said some no longer engaged in criminal activities but used their past experience and connections to provide information to the police. Others might supply information out of personal enmity, disputes or financial interests.
Former acting commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Md Sarwar said source money was allocated under the budgetary code ‘Intelligence Activities’. Although the allocation was supposed to increase, it remained unchanged over the past eight to 10 years, he said.
The amount spent depended on the case and the methods used by individual officers, with different cases requiring different sums, he added.
Informants were often recruited from among criminals, as rival groups provided information about one another, he said.
Sarwar also acknowledged that some informants exploited the police’s name to obtain benefits from criminals. “Some officers also give informants a share of the drugs seized during raids to save money after an operation. This is unethical,” he said.
Who becomes an informant?
Several police officials holding the rank of Deputy Inspector General said the selection of informants depended largely on the investigating officer’s strategy. Officers had to assess who could provide the required information and how reliable that information was.
They also stressed the need to verify information supplied by informants.
An Additional Deputy Inspector General working at Police Headquarters said anyone, from an ordinary citizen to an influential person, could become an informant if they could help investigators uncover a crime.
“Sometimes, someone directly involved in an incident or a criminal network is also recruited as an informant. The entire process depends on an officer’s skills and strategy,” he said.
An Inspector working in Dhaka’s Tejgaon zone said police used drug traders as informants to control the drug trade in Geneva Camp, exploiting rivalries among dealers to gather intelligence.
“It is like using a thorn to remove a thorn. Apart from financial benefits, such informants also receive other advantages,” he said.
Several Inspectors working in Rajshahi and Sylhet, speaking on condition of anonymity, said police commonly recruited political activists, people involved in petty crimes, released convicts, local residents, individuals associated with religious institutions and ordinary citizens as informants.
Many of them had to be paid in exchange for information, they added.
