Two high-ranking Bangladeshi anti-terror police officers are accused of illegally gathering and selling classified and personal information of citizens to criminals on the messaging app Telegram.

The compromised data reportedly included sensitive national identification details, cell phone call records, and other confidential information, as outlined in a letter from a top Bangladeshi intelligence official obtained by US-based tech news website TechCrunch.

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai  Zulkarnain Saer Khan conducted this investigation for Techcrunch.

In a letter dated April 28, Brigadier General Mohammad Baker, Director of Bangladesh's National Telecommunications Monitoring Center (NTMC), confirmed to TechCrunch the ongoing investigation into two police officers accused of selling sensitive citizen data on Telegram.

The letter, originally written in Bengali and addressed to the Ministry of Home Affairs Public Security Division, details how the officers accessed and shared "extremely sensitive information" in exchange for money.

Baker confirmed that the Ministry has ordered the relevant police organizations to take action against the accused officers.

An analysis of NTMC system logs revealed the identity of the accused police officers, one a superintendent from the Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU) and the other an assistant superintendent deputy from the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB 6), a controversial paramilitary unit.

TechCrunch is withholding the names of the accused due to uncertainty about their legal status within the country's judicial system.

NTMC and privacy violations

The NTMC, a government intelligence agency under Bangladesh's Ministry of Home Affairs, is responsible for monitoring telecommunications and intercepting communications to safeguard national security.

However, it has faced criticism from organizations like Human Rights Watch and Freedom House for lacking sufficient safeguards against abuses of free speech and privacy rights.

The NTMC has acquired advanced surveillance technology from companies in Israel and other Western countries, despite Bangladesh not officially recognizing Israel.

This technology has been used for mass surveillance primarily targeting opposition party members, journalists, civil society members, and activists.

The NTMC's National Intelligence Platform (NIP) is a government web portal containing classified citizen information, such as national identification details, cell phone records, and criminal profiles. Various law enforcement and intelligence agencies have access to this platform.

NTMC's internal investigation found that the accused officers accessed the NIP platform more frequently than their peers and collected irrelevant information, indicating misuse of their access.

The letter urged a thorough investigation into the "irrelevant access and unlawful handover of extremely sensitive classified data" to identify all involved parties and take appropriate action against them.

The original report is here.