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Three people have been arrested for spreading misinformation through social media platforms to influence or manipulate stock prices after filing of a case by the securities regulator alleging the crimes.
Md. Amir Hossain alias Nur Nurani, aged 37; Nurul Haque Harun, 52, and Abdul Kaium, 39, were arrested during an operation led by Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Md. Saifur Rahman Azad of the cyber and special crime division of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (south).
Nur Nurani had maintained 8-10 secret groups, with 11 prior cases filed against him. Nurul Haque Harun is vice president of a small capital market investor group named "Puji Bazaar Biniog Kari Oikko Porishod". He was found to have involvement in many incidents of extortion from listed companies, threatening to create chaos in annual general meetings (AGMs).
The third arrestee, Abdul Kaium is associated with brokerage firm Royal Capital. He used to sell price sensitive information through social media secret groups.
Chief of DMP's Detective Branch Harun-or-Rashid informed the media about the arrests and the arrestees at a press briefing at the DMP media centre on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Md. Ohidul Islam, an additional director of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), who deals with market intelligence, told The FE that they had identified two WhatsApp groups, Tw20 items and Money Doubliser that had been used by "a group of unscrupulous investors to spread rumours."
"After identifying the admins of the groups and their breach of securities rules, we communicated with our law and enforcement departments to take actions against them."
The case was filed under the cyber security act at Ramna Police Station on Thursday and the arrests were made Friday night.
Mr Azad, who led the operation, and his team placed the arrestees at the Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Dhaka, with a five-day remand prayer, but the court granted one-day remand.
"They have already confessed to their connections with the crimes. They have also disclosed names of some others having links. We believe we will soon be able to take actions against them."
Mohammad Rezaul Karim, spokesperson and executive director of the BSEC, said the regulator had detected some unusual price movement behind the recent index fall. "Some people are using social media platforms to destabilise the capital market."
According to the DB, the arrestees had also extorted money from listed companies ahead of AGMs. If a company refused to give money, they would create chaos at AGMs, embarrassing board directors.
During the pandemic, the securities regulator allowed listed companies to hold AGMs virtually as public gatherings were not possible at the time. That kept extortionists, widely called AGM parties, away.
Preferring anonymity, a senior official of the Bangladesh Association of Publicly Listed Companies (BAPLC) said that when the securities regulator after a long break issued a directive asking companies to hold AGMs both physically and virtually, the AGM parties returned to haunt the companies and asked for money, including "the dues for the Covid period".
The BAPLC informed the matter to the BSEC and the regulator suggested legal measures against the AGM parties.
The securities regulator also sought the names of those who had allegedly issued threats, but the companies refrained from submitting the names for fears unknown.
The BAPLC official said that when Tapan Chowdhury, managing director of Square Pharmaceuticals, was the president of the association of the listed companies, he urged all not to pay a single penny to the AGM parties.
"AGM parties usually don't create chaos at the AGMs of the compliant companies, such as Square Pharmaceuticals. They are aware of the weaknesses of the non-compliant companies and that's why they put pressure on them for undue payment," he said.